Shraddha Walkar, 27, was reportedly strangled by her boyfriend in May after a row over marriage after the couple moved to Delhi from Mumbai together.
An Indian food blogger in Delhi strangled his girlfriend to death and cut her into pieces which he wrapped in plastic and stored in the fridge before feeding them to stray dogs, in an imitation of the Dexter TV show.
Police arrested Aftab Poonawala, 28, on Saturday for killing Shraddha Walkar, 27. He is accused of strangling her after a dispute over the marriage on May 18.
Poonawala told police he was inspired by Dexter, a TV show featuring a vigilante serial killer who wraps the bodies of his victims in plastic after murdering them.
“He followed what the main character did to cut the body and throw it away,” a source quoted as saying in The Indian Express.
After cutting her into 35 small pieces, he kept the pieces in small black polythene bags in a refrigerator he bought after the murder nearly three weeks, copying the character.
The smell of the carcass in Chattarpur Pahadi, where the couple lived, was masked by air fresheners, agarbattis and incense sticks, which Poonawala bought to try and hide the stench of the rotting corpse.
During several trips, he would wait until 2 a.m. to dispose of his body, slowly scattering the minced body parts in the Mehrauli jungle south of Delhi.
Poonawala, who was trained as a chef, found many ways to get rid of body parts, including giving pieces to stray dogs.
“We were told he first removed the intestines so they would break down easily,” the source said.
The killer started communicating with Walkar’s friends through her Instagram account, so they believed she was still alive, according to The Times of India.
He then threw his phone and threw his clothes in a van later, and googled how to clean the bloodstains off the floor.
The two had met on a dating app three years prior. Poonawala was back on dating apps while pieces of her body were still in the fridge.
Aftab Ameen Poonawalla (left) and Shraddha (right) are pictured together. The food blogger, inspired by TV serial killer Dexter, allegedly strangled his girlfriend before cutting her body into 35 pieces and storing them in his fridge.
After cutting it into small pieces, the killer stored the pieces in black polythene bags in the refrigerator for almost three weeks. He fed some to stray dogs and apparently scattered the rest in the jungle
Dexter features a vigilante serial killer who wraps the bodies of his victims in plastic after murdering them. A scene from the TV show is shown
But at that time, Walkar’s family was asking after her. Friends said she had not replied to their messages in weeks and were considering going to the police.
“She hasn’t answered any of my texts since August,” her friend Laxman Nadir said, speaking to ANI. “His phone was off. After inquiring with other friends, I informed his brother.
Poonawala and Walkar had met three years prior, becoming engaged before moving from Mumbai to Delhi.
She was a BMM student at Viva Institute of Technology, but dropped out to work as a sales manager at a sports retail store, before meeting Poonawala – who had a bachelor’s degree in management studies from Santacruz college.
Their parents did not accept their relationship. Her father accused Poonawala of domestic violence, alleging that his “daughter called her mother and said Aftab beat her”.
Walkar had lost her mother in 2020, returning with her family to grieve with her father and brother for two weeks before returning home.
But after they got back together, Walkar began pressuring Poonawala to marry him, according to a police official.
He originally promised to marry her, but then backtracked, which led to the confrontation.
Recent footage showed Poonawalla emerging from the police station in the Mehrauli jungle with a cloth wrapped around his face in a desperate attempt to avoid being photographed
“The two argued frequently and it got out of control. On May 18, the man got carried away and strangled her,” the official said, speaking to ANI.
Walkar’s father drove to see his daughter but noticed the apartment was locked when he arrived at the apartment in May.
When he was unable to find his daughter, he filed a missing person report in Mumbai.
Police traced his location to Delhi, transferring the case to the Indian capital’s police force and eventually arrested him on Saturday.
Poonawala confessed to the murder. Local Indian news followed the man as police took him into the Mehrauli jungle to report where he had scattered the body parts.
They are ready to take him home to recreate the crime scene.
Police also recovered body parts from Poonawala’s rented flat, BBC Hindi reported.
Neither the murder weapon nor the body have yet been fully recovered. The father asked for the death penalty for the killer.
