Court hears arguments on charges against Shraddha murder case accused Aftab Poonawalla

A court on Tuesday heard the arguments on the charges against Aaftab Amin Poonawala, who is accused of killing his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and chopping her body into pieces.

Additional Sessions Judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar said the arguments on the charges have been heard and a short synopsis has been filed by the prosecution. The legal aid counsel has sought time to address the arguments and the ''remaining arguments on charge on March 20 at 2 pm'', Judge Kakkar said.

Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad argued the charges against Poonawala, while advocate Javed Hussain appeared as the legal aid counsel for the accused.

Earlier on February 21, a magisterial court after taking cognisance of the chargesheet filed in the case, had committed the matter to the sessions court.

Police had file a 6,629-page chargesheet in the case on January 24.

A love story doomed from the start

Aftab and Shraddha met through a dating app Bumble in 2019 and later moved in together at a rented accommodation in Delhi's Chhattarpur area. Her parents were against the inter-faith relationship and had stopped talking to her after she decided to move to Delhi with him.

My daughter Shraddha would have been alive, want death penalty for Aftab says father

Poonawala allegedly strangled his live-in partner, Shraddha Walkar, and sawed her body into 35 pieces, which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his Mehrauli residence in South Delhi's Mehrauli, before dumping them across the city over several days in the dark of night.

Aftab was arrested on November 12 and sent to five-day police custody, which was further extended by five days on November 17. On November 22, he was sent to police custody for four days. The court on November 26, sent him to judicial custody for 13 days.