Narco Test Cleared By Court For Delhi Fridge Murder Accused

A local court has allowed a narco-analysis test, for lie-detection, on Aftab Poonawala, the 28-year-old accused of killing his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar, 26, and chopping up her body six months ago. His police custody was also extended by five days at the Thursday hearing, and cops now plan to take him to Himachal Pradesh's Parvati Valley, where the couple holidayed before moving to Delhi in May.

Some lawyers protested at the court, calling for him to be hanged, though he was presented via video link as police feared he would be attacked.

Police have been interrogating him since the arrest last Friday and had got five days of custody on Saturday that ended today. Custody extension was sought as police argued that crucial evidence — such as Shraddha Walkar's mobile phone and the knife he used to chop up her body — remains to be gathered.

So far, police have a "confession" in custody which, legal experts say, is not valid evidence unless made before a judge and corroborated with other material proof. The narco test may help fill that crucial gap.

Ahead of the 4 pm hearing, expecting that he'd be brought in, a large group of lawyers was seen outside the courtroom, shouting "hang him, hang him". Some shouted, "Hang the jihadi." The case has reignited debates on "love jihad", a term the right wing uses to accuse Muslim men of "luring" Hindu women to convert them to Islam. 

Though committed in May, the crime was uncovered over the past month only after Shraddha Walkar's father — who'd not not been in touch with her since last year as he opposed her inter-faith relationship — went to the cops after her friends told him she'd been out of touch with them too.

The couple, who had met on dating app Bumble around three years ago, had moved to Delhi only in mid-May this year after living together in their hometown Vasai near Mumbai. On May 18, after an argument four days after moving into their rented flat in Mehrauli, Aftab strangled Shraddha, whose body he cut up, kept the pieces in a fridge, and dumped them in a jungle over the next 18 days, police have said.

Police say his confession led them to the details. Evidence to sketch out the crime trail is being collected. As part of that, police were keen on a narco-analysis test, which involves injecting a specific chemical into the suspect's body to lower their self-consciousness so that they speak the truth.

DNA tests are being conducted, too, to find out if the body parts found in the forest are Shraddha's; reports will take two weeks, police said.

But the knife or saw used to cut up the body has not yet been found. Most parts of her body are missing. Clothes worn by the couple on the day of the murder have not been found either. Shraddha's mobile phone remains untraced.

On the evidence list are bills to show he bought a knife and fridge a day after the murder; bones found in the jungle; bloodstain in the kitchen; bank details of Rs 54,000 Aftab got from Shraddha's account; call records and location data from phones; Shraddha's bag from the flat; and her father and friends' statements.

The father, Vikas Walkar, has told NDTV that Aftab confessed in his presence. "The police asked him, 'Do you know him'? He said, 'Yes, he is Shraddha's father'. Then at once, he started saying. 'Shraddha is no more.' I collapsed there. I could not hear any more. Then he was taken away. I was in no condition to hear it," he said.