As the investigation into Shraddha Walkar’s murder intensifies, a Delhi court on Tuesday extended the remand of her live-in partner – Aaftab Poonawal – by four days. The court also approved the Delhi Police’s request to conduct a polygraph test. Aaftab Poonawala was accused of killing Walkar in May; he then allegedly cut her body into 35 pieces and then disposed of them in the jungle in forest areas over a period of several months. He was arrested on November 12. The accused was produced in Delhi’s Saket court on Tuesday morning.
According to Poonawal’s lawyer, the police said they had to take him to search a pond in the Mehrauli forest and Maidangarhi areas of the state capital. Police recently began the process of draining the pond to find more evidence. The lawyer also said that Poonawala had provided a sketch of the pond where he allegedly dumped the parts and that needs to be searched. During the hearing, the lawyer said, Poonawala told the court that since Delhi was a new place for him, it was difficult for him to identify the places. He further said that he is “cooperating fully with the investigating agency” and “whatever happened, it was in a hurry and not on purpose”.
On Monday, the Delhi Police – in its request for a polygraph test – claimed that Poonawala was “misleading the investigating agency” and hence the test was required to confirm whether the answers to the police question were right or wrong, judicial sources told Hindustan Times. . The polygraph test relies on various parameters such as monitoring of breathing rate, blood pressure, sweating and heart rate. He is also required to undergo a narco-analysis, also known as a truth serum, and involves the intravenous administration of a drug (such as sodium pentothal, scopolamine, and sodium amytal) that causes the subject to enter various stages of anesthesia.
