Mehrauli murder: We were clueless until police arrived, say neighbours

Neighbours of the 28-year-old man, who allegedly chopped his live-in partner's body into pieces and kept them in a fridge at his house in Mehrauli here for almost three weeks, said they were clueless until the police arrested him.

They, however, said there was barely any furniture in the couple's house and that the new 300-litre refrigerator the accused purchased to hide the body was kept in the drawing room.

The neighbours also said they had never seen the victim in the locality but had spotted the accused coming downstairs from his house on the first floor to collect food delivery orders.

Aaftab Amin Poonawala and 29-year-old Shraddha Walkar lived on the first floor of a building at Gully Number 1 in Chhatarpur Pahadi area.

Though the South Delhi neighbourhood has houses in close proximity, most people said they did not hear any cry or see unusual activity.

Kusumlata, who lives in the house right infront of the building where Walkar was allegedly murdered, said, ''Three to four days ago, I was coming back home from work when I saw police in the building and asked its owner what had happened. He said a woman had gone missing.

''Later, we got to know that a man staying with her had killed her and disposed her body parts in a nearby jungle. We have never seen the woman but we have seen the man coming downstairs several times to collect food delivery orders,'' she recalled.

In a harrowing tale of betrayal and subterfuge, Poonawala, a trained chef, evaded detection for six months, continued to live in the house they shared and was only arrested early Saturday after details of the killing and its grisly aftermath came to light during his interrogation.

He told the police during the investigation that he killed Walkar after a quarrel over marriage and the idea of chopping her body into pieces was inspired by ''Dexter'', an American crime TV series.

A woman from Haridwar, who is living with her family on a separate floor in the same building where the couple stayed, said they did not see Poonawala bringing the the refrigerator into his house.

''But after the incident came to light, it was my son who helped the police personnel take the fridge down,'' she said.

Another woman living in the neighbourhood said, ''We saw police and got to know about the murder. We never saw them (couple) or spoke to them. We also heard about the fridge which the accused used for storing the body parts. The fridge was kept in the drawing room.'' Several women residing in the area expressed their outrage at the incident and demanded stringent punishment for the accused.

Pinky, a resident of the area, said, ''We do not know the victim or the accused. But we want justice to be delivered. Whatever happened was very wrong.'' A woman who did not wish to be named said, ''To me, it seemed as if my daughter went through that ordeal. The accused should be given the strictest punishment.'' Richard Philips, a foreigner living in the area, called the incident ''absolutely tragic''.

''The body was dismembered and the parts scattered in the forest. It is disgraceful and the blame is being put on an American TC series Dexter. It is extremely sad,'' he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)