India: A fridge, months of cleanup - What we know about the Delhi ‘Dexter’ murder case so far

A 28-year-old man named Aaftab Amin Poonawala was arrested in India’s capital Delhi for allegedly killing his live-in partner Shraddha Vikas Walker, on Saturday. The case has since shocked the nation and continues to do so, as we learn more about the gruesome details emerging amid the ongoing investigation.

According to the Delhi police, the 26-year-old Walker was allegedly strangled to death by Poonawala, who then chopped her body into 35 parts andbought a refrigerator to keep them.

Meanwhile, media reports said that over the span of two to three months the accused scattered them in the city’s Mehrauli forest and surrounding areas and reportedly said that he was “inspired” by the American crime show ‘Dexter’, in which the protagonist is a forensics expert who leads a double life as a serial killer.

From Mumbai to Delhi

Media reports suggest that Poonawala and Walker met in Mumbai and started dating soon after, however, her family had not approved of their inter-faith relationship. Subsequently, they moved to Delhi in the first week of May and were living at a friend’s house before renting an apartment in south Delhi’s Chhattarpur area, a police source told Hindustan Times.

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“The two met on a dating app in Mumbai. They were in a live-in relationship for three years and had shifted to Delhi,” Ankit Chauhan, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of South Delhi told ANI news agency. Soon after, Walker reportedly began pressuring Poonawala for marriage when their relationship became tense which led to frequent fights, Aaftab said during the interrogation.

On May 18, following an argument, Poonawala allegedly strangled Walker and dismembered her in order to dispose off the body. According to his disclosure statement shared by the police with media, “Poonawala revealed that Walker said something offensive, which left him enraged. The couple had a scuffle in the bedroom. He claims that he pushed Walker on the bed, sat on her chest and choked her, due to which she died.”

The alleged murder and gruesome details

The accused had allegedly bought a 300-litre fridge to keep the victim's body in at least 35 pieces. According to police sources cited in media, Poonawala was a trained chef from a private institute in Mumbai where he was also reportedly trained in cutting meat. It supposedly took him two days to cut Walker’s body and Poonawala claims that he did it with a hacksaw with multiple blades.

However, the police are yet to recover the tool allegedly used to commit the crime. Furthermore, the accused claims that after “chopping the body”, he “washed the blood from them and stuffed them in some plastic bags.” Reportedly, all these plastic bags were then kept in the fridge.

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The 28-year-old would then step out of the house around 2 am to dispose off the victim’s body one part at a time in the Mehrauli forest and surrounding areas, said media reports. The police reportedly said that during this time, Poonawala would burn incense sticks to keep the foul smell away and wipe the floor with detergent.

“After almost two three months, he discarded the head and the torso,” said a police officer to the Indian Express. Meanwhile, the accused reportedly had also researched human anatomy, Googled ways to clean human blood from the floor with some chemicals, and disposed off the stained clothes.

The local police have also claimed that the accused disclosed that weeks after the alleged murder he became active on the dating app Bumble through which he had met Walker, and even started dating another girl and had even visited the apartment where Walker had allegedly been killed.

How it all unravelled

The arrest was made after Walker’s father, Vikash Madan Walker, was led to Delhi from Maharashtra’s Palghar district after lodging a missing person complaint in Mumbai. During the interrogation, Aaftab reportedly confessed to the crime and the police had also recovered some bones from their rented apartment in Delhi.

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He had also allegedly impersonated the victim on social media for weeks and spoken to her friends while continuing to live in the same flat.

Walker’s father had come to Delhi after Shraddha’s friend had said that her phone had been switched off for weeks back in September, according to media reports. On November 8, Vikas Madan lodged a complaint at the Mehrauli police station after which the police filed a case of murder and got five-day custody of the accused who eventually confessed.

The Delhi police might also write to the US-based dating app seeking details about the accused as well as the women who visited while the victim’s “body was still in the refrigerator,” said a report by ANI.

The police have reportedly recovered at least 12 suspected human body parts allegedly disposed off by Aaftab and have sent them for further analysis.

(With inputs from agencies)

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