Shraddha's killing brings back memories of Sahni 'Tandoor' murder

NEW DELHI: The murder of 27-year-old Shraddha Walker, a call-centre employee from Mumbai, by her live-in partner Aftab Amin Poonawalla, in the national capital has come as a chilling reminder of another horrific killing in Delhi 27 years ago.

The sheer brutality of the crime has drawn parallels with the infamous 'Tandoor Kand' of July 1995 in which a Youth Congress leader killed his wife over an alleged love affair and shoved her body parts into a tandoor (clay oven) on the roof of an eatery run by his friend.

In a breakthrough in the latest case, which came to light six months back and had confounded the sleuths ever since, the city police on Saturday arrested the 28-year-old live-in partner, who chopped her body into 35 pieces and disposed of them at different places in and around the national capital.

The accused, identified as Mumbai resident Aftab Amin Poonawalla, was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by Shradhha's father. He was produced before a court which sent him to police remand for five days, the Delhi Police said on Monday.

Shraddha met Aftab on a dating site and as the relationship developed, the couple moved in to a rented accommodation in south Delhi's Chhatarpur.

On the receipt of the complaint from Shraddha's father, Delhi Police registered an FIR on November 10.

Police said Aftab searched Google on ways to wash off all traces of his crime and mopped off the blood stains from the floor of their Chhatarpur residence with the hep of some chemicals. He then shifted the body to the bathroom and bought a refrigerator from a nearby shop, the police said, adding that he later chopped the body into small pieces and put them in the fridge.

"The two got together, via a dating app, in Mumbai. They were in a live-in relationship for three years and shifted to Delhi. Soon after they shifted to Delhi, Shraddha started pressurizing Aftab to marry her," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), South Delhi, Ankit Chauhan told ANI.

"The two quarrelled frequently and things would often get out of hand. In this particular incident on May 18, the man lost his temper and strangled her to death," Chouhan added.

"The accused told us that he chopped her into pieces and disposed of the body parts across the forested areas of Chhatarpur Enclave. He has been arrested and investigation is underway," DCP Chouhan said.

After stuffing her body parts in a refrigerator so as not to arouse suspicion, Aftab disposed Shraddha's chopped mortal remains in the forests of Chhattarpur over 18 days Sources further said Aftab used to sleep every day in the same room where he had chopped his partner's body into pieces, adding that he would often step over to the fridge to see her lifeless face. He cleaned the fridge after disposing of the body parts, sources added.

Further, it is alleged that Aftab had relations with many girls even before Shraddha. Before committing the crime, he watched many crime movies and web series, including American crime drama series 'Dexter', souces said.

Police also recovered some bones from Aftab's rented flat and officers said efforts were on to recover the remaining body parts. Police patrolling a nearby area were alerted to Naina Sahni's brutal killing after they saw smoke coming out of the rooftop tandoor.

They later recovered the half-burnt body parts from the oven. The accused, Sushil Sharma, suspected Naina of having an affair with Matloob Karim, a friend she knew from her school days. On July 2, Sharma allegedly caught Naina talking to Matloob over the phone and shot her dead in a fit of rage.

While the manager of the restaurant was arrested after the recovery of the body parts, the Youth Congress leader, who went missing in the wake of the murder, was arrested within a week.

Sharma was convicted of Naina's murder and sentenced to death. However, his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. However, in a surprising turn of events, Sharma was found not guilty by the Delhi High Court on December 8, 2020. The HC later ordered the release of the former politician.