Aaftab Poonawala, the prime accused in the Shraddha Walkar murder case, kept her phone with him for several months after the murder, police sources said, giving details on the brutal murder case that has shocked the country.
Aaftab Poonawala allegedly strangled Shraddha Walkar in a "fit of rage" in May this year and chopped up her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge before dumping body parts in a jungle near their rented flat in South Delhi's Mehrauli over several days.
After Shraddha Walkar's family filed a missing report with the police, Aaftab Poonawala was called to Mumbai for questioning. At the time, he reportedly carried Shraddha Walkar's phone to the city, sources said.
Later, Aaftab Poonawala dumped her phone in the sea, sources added.
Poonawala allegedly used a Chinese cleaver to chop Shraddha Walkar's body, sources said following his narco analysis test. Police have reportedly found many sharp weapons from Aftab's flat and also claim that he cut Shraddha Walkar's body into pieces with the same weapons.
The police is also investigating whether he purchased the weapons before May 18, the day he killed Shraddha Walkar.
Poonawala, 28, was arrested on November 12 after the woman's father, who had not spoken to her for almost a year as he was opposed to the couple's inter-faith (Hindu-Muslim) relationship, went to the cops as her friends told him she hadn't spoken to them too for months.
Right-wing Hindutva organisations and BJP leaders have alleged a communal angle to the crime, though the police haven't said any such thing. Men claiming to be from a Hindu outfit on Monday even attacked a police van carrying him and were arrested; no one was injured.
Featured Video Of The Day
India A Major Geopolitical Actor: Ex-Diplomat On PM's Russia-Ukraine Visit
Delhi Police Files 3,000 Page Chargesheet In Shraddha Walkar Murder Case Unlock Shraddha Walkar Murder Accused Aaftab Poonawala For 8 Hours Daily, Tihar Jail Told "She Never Spoke To Me About Her Anger Issues": Shraddha Walkar's Father US Millionaire, Who Died By Suicide, Owed $34 Million With $8,000 In Bank UK's Seat Should Go To India: Ex-Diplomat On UN Security Council Reforms On CCTV, Cops Seen Planting Drugs On Man In Mumbai, Suspended After Probe 8 Killed After Bus Carrying 47 Overturns In US State Of Mississippi: Report Trump "Disrespected Sacred Ground' At US Military Cemetery: Kamala Harris Top 10 US Universities Based On Forbes Rankings 2024 Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.