OPINION | Unfair to attack Aftab: Let police investigate and courts punish the guilty

Shraddha Walkar murder case: A Delhi court on Tuesday granted permission to Delhi Police to carry out narco-analysis test of Shraddha’s alleged killer Aaftab Poonawala on December 1 and 5. The narco-analysis test will be carried out by Forensic Science Lab officials. Aaftab will undergo pre-test medical examination at Ambedkar Hospital on December 1. He will be produced for narco-analysis test on December 5.   Already 20 days have passed since the Shraddha murder probe began, but police is yet to get hold of some vital evidences related to this gruesome murder. Investigators hope to unearth fresh clues after the narco-analysis test. Remaining body parts and Shraddha’s cell phone are some of the vital evidences yet to be recovered.   Till now, only 13 body parts have been recovered, while the jaw, said to be of Shraddha’s, has been recovered from the Mehrauli forest area. Blood stains have been found from the washroom, kitchen and bedroom of the flat where the couple lived. Since the probe began six months after the gruesome murder, police has to depend on Aaftab’s statement about the date, time and place of murder. The motive behind the murder is yet to be ascertained, despite Aaftab claiming that he strangulated her in the heat of moment, when he suspected that Shraddha may leave him.   Meanwhile, there was drama at the Forensic Science Laboratory complex in Rohini on Monday evening, when a group of sword-wielding men, claiming to be members of Hindu Sena, tried to attack Aaftab sitting inside a police van, but their attempt was quickly foiled. The police van was taking Aaftab back to jail after his polygraph test was completed.   The police van was waylaid by a group of  men who had come in a car. The men, waving swords, and some carrying hammers and lathis, tried to attack Aaftab who was inside the van.   A police sub-inspector, guarding the alleged killer, pointed his service revolver in the air and threatened to fire a warning shot. Inside the van, one of the security guards whipped out his rifle and pointed at the attackers menacingly.   The van quickly whisked Aaftab away, while police detained two of the attackers, Nigam Gujjar, a truck driver and Kuldeep Thakur, a car sales agent, both residents of Gurugram. The high-voltage drama was captured on camera by mediapersons waiting outside the FSL lab.   The attackers claimed that they were from Hindu Sena. One of the attackers shouted ‘He chopped out daughter into 35 pieces, we will chop him into 70 pieces’. The attackers said they would have run over their vehicles on Aaftab, had he walked out with police on the road. The attackers, out of frustration, struck their swords on the police van, as it was caught in a traffic jam outside the complex.   Mediapersons who watched the drama asked the attackers who gave them the right to take law into their hands. The attackers replied that they had come for revenge, and would chop Aaftab into 70 pieces. One of the attackers said, “I am also the father of two girls. We will not let Aaftab live.” The group appeared to come fully prepared with the intent to attack Aaftab. There were five policemen of Delhi Police 3rd armed battalion sitting with Aaftab inside the van. They were led by a sub-inspector who was sitting in front.   There can be no two views about the barbaric manner in which Aaftab killed Shraddha and chopped it into 35 pieces. Already there is anger among common people across India, but to take law into own hands and attack Aaftab, is unjustified. This should be left to the courts to decide.   Already investigators are toiling hard to prepare a strong open-and-shut case against Aaftab. To hunt for body parts thrown in a dense jungle six months ago is not an easy task. To remove water from a pond in search of Shraddha’s skull is not an easy job. To make Aaftab tell the truth about the manner in which he killed and disposed of the body is not easy, particularly when the killer is lying. To prove Aaftab’s crime in this case is a big challenge for police.   The murder took place six months ago, the body was chopped into 35 pieces and cleverly disposed of for nearly two months. Shraddha’s cellphone was thrown into a river. The flat where she was strangulated was cleaned up with chemical. One must understand how police is trying to set all pieces of evidence in the jigsaw puzzle. Any attempt to punish Aaftab by using swords is shameful and unacceptable. Police must take action against those men who attacked the van carrying the killer. In this age of internet, killers have become clever and they adopt new means of erasing evidence.    A similar gruesome murder took place in Trilokpuri near Pandav Nagar, East Delhi, where a 52-year-old man, Anjan Das, from Bihar was killed by his wife and her son from a previous marriage, after he was sedated and his throat was slit. The next day, his body was copped into more than 22 pieces, which were stored in a refrigerator, and the mother-son duo dumped these body parts at several places.   This gruesome murder took place in June, exactly 12 days after Shraddha was murdered in South Delhi. Police have arrested the woman Poonam (48) and her son Deepak (25). The woman alleged that her husband was sexually harassing her daughter and daughter-in-law, and that’s when she and her son decided to kill him. Special Police Commissioner (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said, some body parts were found from Ramlila Maidan from June 5 for five days, and the body had to be identified through technical analysis.   The pattern of disposal of body in this case is similar to Shraddha Walkar murder case. The question is: From where do people get such gruesome ideas on how to dispose of dead bodies?   In the case of Aaftab, it was said that he had watched an American web series crime thriller. This is a dangerous trend.  With the advent of smart phones and latest information technology, people get easy access to such modus operandi. All information on internet is available with the help of a click. It is a big challenge to ensure such information do not lead to gory and gruesome murders.

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