Aftab Poonawala charged with murder, disappearance of evidence in Shraddha Walkar case

A Delhi court framed murder charges against Aftab Amin Poonawala on Tuesday in the gruesome killing of a 27-year-old woman, Shraddha Walkar, in the heart of India's capital city Delhi. He has also been accused of causing the disappearance of evidence.

The accused, however, has denied the charges and claimed a trial in the matter.

Additional Sessions Judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar of Saket Courts has framed charges under Sections 302 (Murder) and 201 (Disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Poonawala.

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"Prima facie case of Section 302 is made out and charges will be framed," ASJ Khurana said.

The judge further added that to screen himself from punishment, Poonawala cut Walkar's body and threw it at different places, therefore, committing an offence under Section 201 of IPC.

"Do you plead guilty or claim trial," the court asked to which Poonawala
said, "I don't plead guilty and will face the trial."

Poonawala pleaded not guilty to Walker's murder and the matter has now been set for trial and has been listed for the recording of prosecution evidence on June 1.

Advocate Akshay Bhandari argued that the accused cannot be charged together for the offence of murder and of the destruction of evidence and that these two charges can be framed in alternate.

The accused can't be charged for both offences together as it would prejudice his right, the counsel argued.

Shraddha Walkar's audio clip played in court

In the month of March, more gory details had come to surface in the Shraddha Walkar murder case where special public prosecutor Amit Prasad, appearing on behalf of the state, played an audio clip of hers in a Delhi court that unveiled Walkar's deep-seated fears she had in her relationship with boyfriend, Aftab Poonawala.

Prosecutor Prasad played an audio clip reportedly from an application called Practo. It is an application where people connect with doctors and experts for consultations and seek help.

Walkar, in the audio clip, could be heard saying, "Whenever I start ranting about my anger, if he is somewhere around, anywhere in Vasai (near Mumbai), anywhere around me in this…city, he will find me, he will hunt me down, he will try to kill me, that's… the problem," reported PTI news agency quoting Walkar purportedly as saying in the audio clip.

“I don't know (how) many times he tried to kill me -- this is not the first time he tried to kill me... The way he grabbed my neck, I blacked out. I was unable to breathe for 30 seconds... Thankfully I was able to defend myself by pulling his hair," she added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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