Delhi Police on Sunday recovered parts of skull and some bones from a forest area and deployed teams to drain a pond in South Delhi's Maidangarhi as it intensified its search for the remains of Shraddha Walkar that were allegedly dumped by her live-in partner after murdering her six months ago. The police have only three days to conduct searches and find evidence in the presence of the accused as his custody will end Tuesday.
Police took accused Aaftab Poonawala to the flat where he and Walkar lived to gather more evidence. Also, the officials of Delhi Police and Rohini's Forensic Science Laboratory held a meeting as they prepared to conduct a narco-analysis test through which they are hoping to get some vital clues from the accused. "We have taken up the matter. Our teams of forensic experts had an elaborative discussion with the officials of Delhi Police regarding the narco analysis test to be conducted and are preparing for the same," a senior official from Rohini's Forensic Science Laboratory said.
Sources said they recovered part of the skull and a few other body pieces (bones) Sunday after their searches. The same will be sent for forensic examination to verify if they were human bones. Sources said the bones were recovered from different forest areas and look like ‘human bones’. "We again went to the Mehrauli forest and have recovered base of a skull, parts of jaw and bones. After recovering the remains, we have sent them to a forensic lab to get a proper report," said sources.
The police also sent a team to Maidangarhi Sunday to search for evidence in a small lake. Visuals from the spot show officers trying to pump out water from the lake to conduct searches. It is suspected that Aftab threw body parts and other pieces into the lake. We again went to the Mehrauli forest and have recovered base of a skull, parts of jaw and bones. After recovering the remains, we have sent them to a forensic lab to get a proper report," sources added.
The exercise began following Aftab’s claim that he had thrown her head and some other remains in the water body. "We have heard that some body parts are dumped here and the search for them is underway. They are taking out the water from the pond. This pond supplies water to the tubewells in the area," said Mahavir Pradhan, president of the RWA of the village.
He said that they are ready to help the police but there could be another way of finding the body parts, rather than emptying the pond."Divers could have been deployed to look for the body parts," he said.
On Sunday, a team went to Gurgaon for the third consecutive day to look for the murder weapon, Shraddha’s body parts, and her phone. Teams conducted searches around DLF Phase 3 forest area and other localities.
Meanwhile, a team of Delhi police reached Vasai, in Mumbai interrogated a person named Govind Yadav at Naya Nagar Police Station on Mira Road. Sources said Aftab had couriered a consignment for Rs 20,000 to a Delhi address through a Mira Road-based logistics company run by Yadav.