Jairam Ramesh condemns ‘heinous’ Delhi murder: ‘Daughters of India deserve justice’

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh has condemned the murder of 26-year-old Shraddha Walker by her live-in partner Aftab Poonawalla in Delhi and said she and “the daughters of India deserve justice”.

“The entire nation is shocked and angry at the brutality with which Aftab Poonawalla killed his live-in partner Shraddha Walker. No words can describe this trauma. This is a heinous crime,” the veteran politician's tweet on Monday, roughly translated from Hindi, read.

He further stated that the offender should be “punished severely”.

Delhi Police uncovered the six-month-old blind case after Aftab, 28, was arrested on Monday for allegedly killing his live-in partner following a fight in May this year, chopping her body into at least 35 pieces and dumping those in and around the national capital over the next few weeks.

The case came to light after Shraddha's friend informed her family in September that there was no contact with her for the last two and half months and her mobile number was switched off. Her family also checked her social media accounts and found no updates during this time period. The victim's father, Vikash Madan Walker, a resident of Palghar in Maharashtra, approached the Mumbai Police to lodge a missing complaint. After initial probe revealed that Shraddha's last location was in Delhi, the case was transferred to the capital's police unit.

Police investigation so far has revealed that the couple met via a dating app in 2019 and later began working at a Decathlon store together. There was no untoward incident in the first eight to nine months of their relationship, but things started to get worse when both their families opposed their interfaith union. Shraddha and Aftab moved to Delhi in the first week of May and after living at a friend's house for some time, they rented a two-room flat in south Delhi's Chattarpur area where the murder was committed.

During questioning, Aftab told police that he had a fight with Shraddha on May 18 when she suspected him of having an affair and pressed him to marry her. The accused lost his temper during the argument and strangled her by sitting on her chest. He purchased a tool to cut her body into pieces and also a refrigerator for ₹19,000 from a nearby market to store those. Over the next few weeks, he would leave home late in the night - the first time being on May 21 at 2am - to dispose the chopped pieces of Shraddha's body in various locations of Delhi.

Aftab, who had done a course in hotel management and worked as a trainee chef at a luxury hotel in Mumbai, also told police that he googled ways to clean blood and about human anatomy. A senior Delhi police officer, quoting the accused's disclosure statement, said that Aftab watched movie and TV shows, including the popular American crime drama ‘Dexter’, to obtain ideas for getting rid of Shraddha's body.

Police have recovered some bones from Aftab's flat and efforts to ascertain if those are from a human body are currently underway.

(With inputs from agencies)