Shraddha Murder Case: Accused will be Produced Virtually before the Court

New Delhi: Aaftab Amin Poonawala, who allegedly killed his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar in Delhi, will be produced before the Saket Court via video conference at 4 pm on Thursday. The Delhi Police had filed an application requesting the court to produce the accused Poonawala virtually due to his security concerns.

Metropolitan magistrate Aviral Shukla said according to the application presented by police, the accused faced threats from miscreants and religious groups.

“I am aware of the sensitivity of the matter, media coverage…Public traction…,” the judge said while allowing the application.

The Delhi Police looked for additional remand of the accused saying that the cops have to visit Parvati Valley in Himachal Pradesh to dig up more evidence. The police also said that the Badarpur and the Chattarpur jungles in New Delhi are vast, and it would require time to unearth the pieces of the body of the victim.

Scores of lawyers gathered outside the courtroom and shouted slogans “Shraddha ke hatyare ko fansi do, fansi do” (Shraddha’s murderer should be hanged). They all left soon after the judge accepted the application of the police, to produce the accused Aaftab Poonawala, before the court through video conferencing and said it will be done at 4 pm.

In another application moved by the Delhi Police, looking for permission for a narco-analysis test of the accused, the hearing will also be held through a video conference but in a different court. The judge has listed the matter for 4.05 pm.

Twenty-eight-year-old Poonawala allegedly strangled Shraddha and sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-liter fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in south Delhi’s Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days past midnight.

Police said the couple used to have frequent arguments over financial issues and it is suspected that there was also a fight between them that resulted in Poonawala killing 27-year-old Shraddha on the evening of May 18.