'MURDERERS like Aftab Amin Poonawalla would have been in every city if...': Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Shraddha Walkar Murder case

Shraddha Walkar Murder Case: Assam Chief Minister made these remarks on the bone-chilling murder case while addressing a rally in Kutch while campaigning for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls. Poonawaala has been accused of strangling his live-in partner Shraddha Walker to death and chopping her body into 35 pieces. He was arrested on November 12 and is under police custody.

SURAT: The sensational Shraddha murder case has caught everyone's attention and now Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that murderers like Aftab Amin Poonwalla, who is accused of brutally killing his live-in partner Shraddha Walker, would have emerged in every city of the country if there was not a strong leader like Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "If today the country does not have a strong leader, one who considers and respects the nation as a mother, such Aftabs will be born in every city and we will not be able to safeguard our society," the Assam CM said. "So, it is very important that Narendra Modi be made the PM again, for the third time, in 2024," Sarma said.   

Assam Chief Minister made these remarks while addressing a rally in Kutch while campaigning for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls. Poonawaala has been accused of strangling his live-in partner Shraddha Walker to death and chopping her body into 35 pieces. He was arrested on November 12 and is under police custody. The Delhi Police had sought the narco test of the accused.

According to Delhi Police sources, the accused Poonawalla had charred his live-in partner's face to hide her identity. The Delhi Police sources said that Poonawalla had chopped her body into 35 pieces, then burnt her face so that it becomes unidentifiable even if the body parts are discovered.

"During the interrogation, Aftab revealed that he had learnt about all this on the internet, and also about how to hide the body from everyone's reach," the sources said. The Southern District Police of Delhi has contacted their Eastern counterparts in a bid to match the DNA sample of chopped body parts including a human head which the latter had recovered earlier in June.

According to the sources, the East Delhi Police had found a chopped head and hand in the Trilokpuri area of Pandav Nagar police station area of the national capital in June this year, which was nearly a month after Shraddha was murdered (on May 18).

In the East Delhi case, the police were not able to ascertain whose body parts they were because of the tampered state of the recovered body parts. The body parts found in East Delhi were sent for a DNA test, and the forensic report will be coming soon.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police is expected to seek an extension of Aftab Amin Poonawala's custody which ends today even as the court’s nod for conducting a polygraph test on him is also awaited. While Delhi Police is still searching for the key evidence - the murder weapon – in the sensational murder case, authorities have abandoned efforts to drain a pond where some of her body parts were suspected to be dumped by the accused.

The Delhi Police has moved a lower court seeking permission to conduct a polygraph test on Aaftab Amin Poonawala as he has been misleading the investigators. Metropolitan magistrate Aviral Shukla of Saket Court referred the matter to Magistrate Vijayshree Rathore, who earlier granted permission for a narco analysis test on Aftab. The court is likely to hear the plea on Tuesday.

According to sources, Aaftab is to be produced before the court after the expiry of his five-day police custody today. Delhi police had earlier submitted in court that Aftab was giving wrong information and misleading the investigation. The plea for a polygraph test is the second scientific examination that Delhi police sought to conduct on Aaftab. On Thursday, the court ordered Rohini Forensic Science Laboratory to conduct a narco test on Aaftab within five days.

However, the court directed the investigating officer in the case not to use third-degree on the accused as it extended its custody by a further five days. Metropolitan magistrate Vijayshree Rathore had allowed the application seeking permission for a narco analysis test on Aaftab.

The questioning of Aftab Ameen Poonawalla has revealed that Aftab on May 6 along with Shraddha visited Tosh in Himachal Pradesh and bought `weed` there. The police have also collected some digital evidence which corroborated his words. "He had visited Tosh a couple of times earlier also with his friends and had bought weed, as he is fond of it," a source said.