Aaftab Poonawala is accused of murdering his live-in girlfriend Shraddha Walkar.
New Delhi:
Aaftab Poonawala has not confessed to murdering his partner Shraddha Walkar in court, his lawyer said today. He also said the case against him is based only on circumstantial evidence, which could help him.
“He is cooperating with the Delhi Police but he has not confessed in court. He has not confessed that he murdered Shraddha,” Aaftab’s court-appointed lawyer Avinash Kumar said in an exclusive interview to NDTV.
Aaftab Poonawala, 28, is accused of strangling Shraddha Walkar at the Delhi apartment they shared in May, cutting up her body into 35 pieces and scattering the parts across the city.
The Delhi Police, which arrested him last Monday, claimed he had confessed to the gruesome crime. Aaftab, who allegedly bought a 300-litre fridge to store his girlfriend’s body parts and looked at her severed head everyday, had allegedly killed Shraddha after an argument over expenses.
Aaftab “wants to tell everything to Delhi Police”, said Mr Kumar. He said his client was “not completely denying” the crime. “He gave his consent to a Narco test as he wants to cooperate with the police,” he said.
The lawyer said since he took over the case, he had spoken with Aaftab for about 10 minutes. In that time, he had not spoken about Shraddha, he claimed.
“He said he wanted to meet his counsel for five minutes. I thought his body language was very comfortable. He was looking like any normal person… his mind and physical condition were very stable. He was talking very politely. He is not worried… he knows of the consequences of the case but he has faith in the legal process,” Mr Kumar said.
On preparing Aaftab’s defence, Mr Kumar said he was waiting for a copy of the police chargesheet. “My next strategy will be based on that. So far, everything is circumstantial evidence. There is no substantial evidence.”
The lawyer brushed off the possibility of facing any anger for defending a man accused of an unspeakable crime.
“It is his constitutional right to be defended and it is my duty to defend him. So far, I am not worried.”
