The Chhattarpur Pahadi neighbourhood, where the two lived on a rent-to-own basis, was shaken by news of the murder of a 27-year-old woman by her 28-year-old live-in partner, but the majority of the locals claimed they had not seen anything suspicious prior to the police’s arrival to apprehend the suspect on Saturday.
Shraddha Walkar was strangled to death, allegedly by Aaftab Poonawala, who then dismembered the body and dumped it in Mehrauli bush over the course of many months.
On May 15, the couple moved into their new flat, which was visited by a news organisation on Monday. The landlord had received the two’s ID cards, but because the woman lived there for only three days before she was killed, few neighbours ever saw her.
The one-room flat is situated in a busy lane on the first floor. While the accused tried to cover up the odour with agarbatti, dhoop, potpourri, and room fresheners, the smell persisted even on Monday. A potpourri bowl was still on a table, and the furniture was covered with dust.
On May 16, the defendant purchased a brand-new refrigerator from a neighbouring retailer to keep the body parts.
Their neighbour down the hall works for a private company and frequently spends the day there. We moved here in July, a neighbour on the first floor who wished to remain unnamed remarked. I’ve never heard or seen the woman. We would observe Aaftab leaving for work or just hanging out, but we never had any suspicions. He was always respectful.
When the couple originally moved in, a different neighbour, Kusum Lata, claimed she “may” have seen the woman once or twice. “Many young people reside here and bring their buddies. He’d play loud music, and occasionally we’d hear arguments, but that’s rather normal around here.
Aftaab would frequently come into his business, but the shopkeeper claimed there was nothing odd about him. Many neighbours believed that he lived alone.
Over a period of two to three months, according to the police, he would go outside between 1-2 am to dispose of the body parts. His movements did not raise any concern, according to the police, because the neighbourhood has a number of young residents who are out late.
“It took him almost a day to cut and pack the body into little poly bags,” a police officer stated. He completed all of this in the restroom, wiping the floor numerous times.
He travelled on foot to dumping grounds, crematoriums, and jungle regions to dispose of the parts. The police reported that the man dumped his head and torso “after roughly two to three months.”
Police escorted him to Mehrauli woods after his arrest on Saturday so they could retrieve the pieces. According to sources, 13 body parts—mostly bones—have been discovered.
