Delhi police fail to find murder weapon on second-day of forest search

Gurugram: The Delhi Police investigating the gruesome killing of Shraddha Walkar searched for the murder weapon at a forest here using a metal detector on Saturday, but returned empty-handed after one-and-a-half-hours, sources said.

The search at the forest in DLF Phase 3 area began on Friday after the police suspected that accused Aaftab Amin Poonawala, 27-year-old Walkar's live-in partner, disposed the weapon here after allegedly killing her.

On Friday, the police had recovered some items from the forest in a black polythene bag. Police sources in Delhi said they were some of Walkar's body parts and that her head is still missing. This, however, could not be confirmed.

Meanwhile on Saturday, the police recovered a sharp object from Poonawala's house at Mehrauli in South Delhi and it will also be sent for examination to find out whether it was used to chop Walkar's body.

They also took possession of all the clothes in the house and they will be sent for forensic examination. However, these do not include the clothes Poonawala and Walkar wore on May 18, the murder day, police sources said.

Aaftab's office colleagues, whom Shraddha used to call and narrate her ordeal, are likely to be interrogated next, they said.

"Delhi Police has taken possession of all the clothes present in Poonawala's house. These include Walkar's clothes too. They will be sent for forensic examination," a source in the police department said.

Poonawala allegedly strangled Walkar and sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his house before dumping them across the city and outside over several days past midnight.

The police have so far recovered 13 body parts, which are mostly skeletal remains. Poonawala is currently being taken to different locations in south Delhi to locate more body parts, the source said.

The Delhi Police had on Friday sent teams to Maharashtra, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to hunt for evidence in the case.

According to officials, after leaving Mumbai, Walkar and Poonawala had travelled to several locations, including Himachal Pradesh, and police are visiting these places to ascertain whether any development during those trips triggered Poonawala to kill his partner.