Man chops live-in partner into 35 pieces, scatters them across Delhi: Grisliest but not the first such case in Mehrauli

Delhi rose to the report of a gut-wrenching incident in which a 29-year-old woman was strangled by her live-in partner, who chopped her body into nearly 35 pieces and kept them in a fridge for nearly 20 days before gradually dumping them across the national capital.

The grisly details of the murder, which took place in May this year in Delhi’s but came to light six months later, left not just the capital by the entire nation in shock. 

According to police officials, 28-year-old Aftab Poonawala of Mumbai has been arrested in the case, and some severed body parts of the woman, Shraddha Walkar, have been recovered. The weapon used in the crime is yet to be found, they said.

"The duo fell in love while working in Mumbai and came to Delhi by April-end or May first week after facing opposition from their families. While they were living in the national capital, they had an argument in mid-May over marriage, which escalated and he strangled her," Ankit Chauhan, Additional DCP-I, South district, said.

"He then cut her body into pieces and disposed them in different parts of the city. The accused had preserved the woman's body in a fridge and disposed them on different occasions," he added. 

According to the police, the accused stored the body at their house in South Delhi’s Mehrauli for days. To evade arrest, he allegedly chopped the body in parts and dumped them at different places over the next few weeks.

Notably, this is not the first such incident that has happened in Delhi’s Mehrauli. In May this year, very close to when the horrific murder of Shraddha Walkar took place, a 19-year-old woman was allegedly stabbled to death by her live-in partner over a financial dispute. The accused was arrested and the murder weapon was also recovered. 

Upon interrogation, the accused told the police that he and woman were in a relationship for the past three years and had been living together for the last two months. The accused, who earlier repaired autos, had been unemployed for the last year, due to which they frequently fought over expenses and family issues.

On the day, the incident took place, the accused and the deceased had decided to meet, but they had a heated argument and the victim threatened him that she would file a case against the accused and his family members.

The infuriated accused, who was carrying a knife, in a fit of rage, stabbed the woman near her neck from the back.