Shraddha Walkar Murder: Cops Find Object Possibly Used To Chop Body

Delhi police today recovered a heavy and sharp cutting tool from Aftab Ameen Poonawala's flat, which they suspect might have been used to chop off Shraddha Walkar's body. Aftab has started revealing the truth after strict interrogation, and himself helped the police recover the vital evidence from his Chhatarpur flat, they said.

Police also recovered a heavy black polythene bag from Aftab's Gurugram workplace yesterday.

Recovery of the weapon will be crucial in further investigation of the case.

Aftab found out online that while dismembering a dead body, blood splatters can fall up to a few feet, so he kept a distance of several feet around the place where the dead body was cut into 35 pieces, police said. He also removed all blood stains with that special kind of acid, they added.

The forensics team claims that the blood stains on the clothes Aftab was wearing on the day of the murder would still be there. Both their clothes have not been found so far. Aftab has told the police that he disposed of Shraddha's bloodstained clothes in the civic garbage van.

To locate Shraddha's clothes, police have started tracking the civic network of waste collection. According to sources, police have identified two dumping spots for waste from the neighbourhood where the couple lived. 

Police have picked up all the clothes from the flat in the hope of finding more clues.

Though several body parts -- yet to be determined if they are Shraddha's -- have been found in the forests in Mehrauli near the couple's rented Chhatarpur flat, her severed head -- which Aftab allegedly kept in a fridge for days -- is missing. Ten bags of body parts were found when the police took Aftab to the forest on Tuesday.

Shraddha's mobile phone has also not been found.

A report of DNA tests to establish whether the body parts found in the forest are Shraddha's will take 15 days, say the police.

The police are also examining security footage and have asked for details from the dating app Bumble, where Aftab and Shraddha met three years ago.

Sources say investigations into the six-month-old murder hinge on forensic reports, call data, and circumstantial evidence as there are no witnesses.

Shraddha and Aftab had moved to Delhi in May and four days later, following an argument over expenses and infidelity, he strangled her to death, later chopping up the body into 35 pieces that he kept in a fridge and disposed of in a jungle over 18 days, police have said.