Delhi Police seek narco test on Mehrauli murder accused Aaftab Amin Poonawala

New Delhi, November 16

The Delhi Police have sought court’s permission to conduct the narco test on Aaftab Amin Poonawala, accused of killing his live-in partner Shradha Walkar and dumping her body parts in a forest area in south Delhi’s Chhatarpur in May, officials said today.

They are yet to get permission from the court.

A senior police officer said since there were multiple discrepancies in Poonawala’s statement, the investigators had approached the court for the narco test.

Discrepancies in accused’s statement

There are several discrepancies in the accused’s statement. With the narco test, the police will come to know whether or not the accused is telling the truth. It will also help the cops understand his mental state. —Police officer

“With the test, we will come to know whether the accused is telling the truth. It will also help us understand his mental state and the intention behind the brutal crime he has committed. We also want to know how his relationship with Shradha was,” he said.

The police have recovered 13 body parts, believed to be of the woman, from different areas. The blood samples of Shradha’s father have been collected for the DNA analysis of the body parts. The investigating team is also likely to approach the authorities at dating app Bumble through which the duo met.

The police said the couple used to have frequent arguments over financial issues and it is suspected that there was also a fight between them that resulted in Poonawala killing 27-year-old Shradha Walkar on the evening of May 18.

Poonawala (28) allegedly strangled Shradha in May and chopped her body into 35 pieces, which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his house in South Delhi’s Mehrauli before dumping these across the city over several days.

The Delhi Police have previously also conducted narco tests in some cases. Last year, it was conducted on four students who had been apprehended in connection with the Israel Embassy blast case.