Delhi Murder Case: Maharashtra To Set Up Safety Squad For Eloped Girls

Mangal Prabhat Lodha, the minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in Maharashtra, said on Saturday that the government has decided to set up a special squad for the protection of girls leaving home after a fight with their parents, in the wake of the Shradhha Walker murder case.

A native of Mumbai, Shraddha Walker was murdered by her live-in partner Aftab Amin Poonawala who also chopped off her body into 35 pieces and dumped them in the forests of Delhi's Chhatarpur.

While the accused confessed to his crime and is currently in police custody, a team of Delhi Police is currently in Mumbai as part of their ongoing probe in the case.

The Maharashtra government on Saturday said the state women's commission will put together a special squad to ensure the safety of women, who run away from their homes against their parents' wishes, or elope while being in a relationship.

"I've directed the state women's commission to form a special squad (to ensure protection of girls fleeing their homes). Once a girl becomes an adult (attains 18 years of age), she can't be forcibly either by her family or the police. However, when she gets into a fight with her family members, marries against their wish and elopes, she knows she won't get any help from her family in the event of trouble," Mr Lodha, told ANI.

Shraddha Walker allegedly left home after a fight with her parents, saying that she wanted to live-in with her bodyfriend. The couple later shifted to Delhi and set up residence at a rented apartment in Chhatarpur.

Delhi Police solved the six-month-old 'blind murder case' with the arrest of Aftab.

On the receipt of a complaint from Shraddha Walker's father, Delhi Police had registered an FIR on November 10.

During his inerrogation, Aftab confessed to killing Shraddha Walker on May 18 after which he planned to dipose of her body in a manner so as not to arouse suspicion.

He reportedly told police that he borrowed ideas from his favourite crime shows on streaming devices and also researched on human anatomy before chopping off Shraddha Walker's body.

After searching on Google for was to erase evidence, Aftab mopped off blood stains from the floor using some chemicals and disposed of the blood-stained clothes, police said.

He then bought a refrierator to preserve the chopped body parts, police said.

A Delhi court, meanwhile, directed the Rohini Forensic Science Laboratory to conduct a narco test of Aaftab Poonawala within five days.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)