New Delhi: The Delhi police on Sunday recovered parts of a skull and jaw bones
from the Mehrauli forest area and deployed teams to drain a pond in the Maidangarhi area as it intensified its search for the remains of Shraddha Walkar, allegedly dumped by her live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala after murdering her six months ago.
"We again went to the Mehrauli forest and have recovered the base of a skull, parts of the jaw and bones. These remains will be sent for forensic examination to match with Shraddha’s father’s DNA samples.
According to official sources, so far, the police teams have reportedly recovered 17 bones from three forests.
To ascertain that the bones belong to Shraddha, the blood samples of her father and brother have been collected for DNA analysis. A report of DNA tests to establish whether the body parts found in the forest are those of the victim will take 15 days.
The Delhi police, along with the MCD teams, started pumping out water
from a pond in the Maidangarhi area beginning Sunday afternoon. The
exercise began following Aaftab's claim that he had dumped her head
and some other remains in the water body.
"The police teams are also carrying out search operations to recover the missing skeletal parts. Several inter-disciplinary teams are working round the clock for documenting, finding discrepancies and further refining the versions and the motives being put forth by the accused," said a Delhi police official.
On Sunday, the Delhi police also interrogated a person named Govind Yadav in Mumbai, whose logistics company had moved Aaftab's belongings from Mumbai to Delhi.
Sources said Aaftab had couriered a consignment for `20,000 to a Delhi address through a Mira Road-based logistics company run by Mr Yadav.
The visiting Delhi police team in Mumbai also interrogated Abdulla Khan of the Unique Park Society, where Aaftab's family lived. Police also questioned Jayashree, the landlady of the flat at Regal Apartments, where Aaftab and Shraddha were tenants in 2020.
However, police have not yet been able to contact Aaftab's parents, who vacated their house and left the society barely 15 days before Shraddha's murder came to light. They lived in Unique Park for almost 20 years.
Meanwhile, after getting the court’s approval for conducting Aaftab’s narco test, the investigators are running against time to get it conducted within the court’s stipulated timeframe.
The test, according to Delhi police officials, will most likely be conducted on Monday.in Rohini, as Aaftab's five-day police custody ends the next day.
The source added that Aaftab, during the interrogation, confessed that he burnt pictures of Shraddha after murdering her.
"After killing Shraddha on May 23 he tried to destroy all the evidence
and burnt her photos too," said the source.
Sources privy to the probe said that Aaftab burnt three photographs of Shraddha in the kitchen of their rented flat after killing her. During interrogation, Aaftab said that he had developed a hatred for Shraddha and combed through the various belongings of the couple after murdering her.
As the murder probe gathers steam, the Delhi police officials claim that they are doing everything possible, including dispatching multiple teams to various cities, to recreate the lives of Aaftab and Shraddha.
