Aftab ‘googled ways to clean blood after chopping off girlfriend into 35 pieces

New Delhi, Nov 14: Aftab Ameen Poonawala, who is accused of murdering his girlfriend Shraddha Walkar by chopping off her body into 35 pieces in New Delhi had googled method of blood cleaning and read about human anatomy after murdering his live-in partner, claimed Delhi Police on Monday.

He told the police during the investigation that he killed Shraddha Walkar after a quarrel over marriage and the idea of chopping her body into pieces was inspired by "Dexter", an American crime TV series.

He not only bought the fridge to preserve the body parts but also stocked incense sticks and room fresheners to suppress the foul smell emanating from the corpse.

Stepping out past midnight with body parts packed in poly bags, the accused meticulously planned which ones to dispose of first depending upon which part starts decomposing at the earliest, the police said.

According to police officials, 13 body parts were found after the accused pinpointed the areas where he had thrown them, but only after their forensic examination, it can be confirmed if they belong to the victim.

They are yet to find the murder weapon.

For the next few weeks after the murder, Poonawala allegedly interacted with the woman's friends using her social media accounts so as to not arouse any suspicion. Walkar was not talking to her family as they had objected to their relationship.

Moving on with his life as if nothing happened, the accused continued to live in the same place where they had shifted in May after moving from Mumbai.

The victim's father in Mumbai filed a complaint when one of her friends informed him in September that Walkar's phone had been unreachable for two months and Poonawala claimed that they had parted ways some time back.

Aftab and Shraddha were in a relationship when they worked together in Mumbai. They moved to Delhi earlier this year.

Her family was against the interfaith relationship, but she decided to move in with him. In fact, she was not in speaking terms with her parents, her father has told the cops now.

They were in a live-in relationship in a rented apartment in Mehrauli. "They had an argument in mid-May over marriage, which escalated and he strangled her," Ankit Chauhan, police in-charge of Delhi South, said.

with PTI inputs