Even as more chilling details of the gruesome murder of a young woman in Delhi, allegedly by her live-in partner, keep tumbling out, people at two shops that the alleged killer had visited after the murder told NDTV today that there was not a trace of abnormality in his behaviour as he went shopping for a knife to chop the body parts of the victim and a fridge to stash them away.
Speaking to NDTV, Kuldeep, one of the employees present at the shop in Chhatarpur when Aftab went shopping for a 300-litre refrigerator, said that Aftab had come to the shop on May 19.
"He used his credit card to buy a big fridge. It didn't at all look like he had committed a murder," Kuldeep said, adding that Aftab left the shop immediately after the purchase.
"He was at the shop for only about 15-20 minutes," Kuldeep added.
Aftab Ameen Poonawala, 28, allegedly strangled his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar on May 18 after they had a fight. He then chopped her body into 35 pieces and kept them in a fridge. Over the next 18 days, he disposed of the pieces in forested areas of Chhatarpur Enclave.
Sandeep Sachdeva, the owner of a utensils shop in Chhatarpur, from where Aftab had reportedly bought a knife to chop the body parts of Shraddha, said police had brought Aftab to his shop for inquiry.
The shop owner told NDTV that Aftab had told the police that he had bought the knife from his shop, though he himself was not present when Aftab came for the purchase.
Mr Sachdeva said his father and an employee were present when Aftab came to buy the knife. However, the employee quit about two months ago, while his father hardly remembered seeing Aftab. He added that footage from his shop's CCTV camera was also no longer available.
Mr Sachdeva said Aftab had told the police that along with the knife, he had also bought some garbage bags from the shop to dispose of the chopped body parts of his live-in partner.
Aftab also said he had a cut from the knife while buying it and had to get the wound bandaged from a nearby hospital.
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