Aaftab Poonawala seeks bail in Shraddha murder trial, to be heard today

A city court will on Saturday hear a bail application by Aaftab Poonawala, who is accused of murdering his girlfriend Shraddha Walkar in south Delhi’s Chhattarpur Pahadi this May, said his lawyer.

In his plea, Poonawala has sought bail on the grounds that the initial investigation in the case is complete and only forensic science reports are pending, and that there is no purpose in keeping the accused in judicial custody.

Poonawala’s counsel said that the police “may take considerable time to file the charge sheet” and his client cannot be incarcerated till then.

The matter is likely to come up for hearing before additional sessions judge Vrinda Kumari, added the counsel.

On December 9, Poonawala’s judicial custody was extended by 14 days.

Meanwhile, even as the police confirmed on Thursday that DNA retrieved from bones found in south Delhi forests matched that of Shraddha Walkar’s father, the police remained tight-lipped about the forensic report of weapons found from the flat where the victim was murdered.

At least one saw and multiple knives were recovered when the police arrested Poonawala on November 12. The bones retrieved “on the instance” of Poonawala’s disclosure and weapons were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Rohini. While the police confirmed receiving the DNA match report, they haven’t commented on the forensic report of the weapons.

Despite repeated phone calls and text messages, Chandan Chowdhary, deputy commissioner of police (south), did not comment on the findings of the forensic report on weapons.

Experts said that the evidence available to the police so far establishes that Walkar is dead and that there is also strong circumstantial evidence against Poonawala.