A Delhi court on Saturday deferred the bail hearing of Aftab Poonawala, accused of strangulating his live-in partner and chopping her body into 35 pieces, after he told the court that he was not aware of such an application being filed on his behalf. Replying to an inquiry by the judge on whether he intended to withdraw the bail plea, Mr. Poonawala told the court that he just signed on the vakalatnama but was not briefed about what it will be used for. When the accused appeared before Additional Sessions Judge Vrinda Kumari, he expressed the wish to meet his lawyer once. The court, hence, postponed the bail hearing for December 22.
The lawyer of Aftab, advocate M.S. Khan, had filed a bail plea in Saket court on December 14.
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The lawyer, in the bail plea, cited that the case filed against Mr. Poonawala by the Delhi Police, was based on a fictitious story which is totally against the true facts. In the bail plea, it is mentioned that the allegations against Mr. Poonawala are false and baseless and he is innocent.
It also added that Mr. Poonawala had a clean track record throughout his life and was never involved in any criminal activity in the past.
“He will be ready to join the investigation, as and when required,” the bail application mentioned.
Mr. Poonawala, currently in judicial custody in Tihar Jail, is accused of strangulating Shraddha Walkar on May 18. It is alleged that he chopped her body into 35 pieces, stored them in a fridge and later dumped them at different locations across the city to hide the evidence. He was arrested by the Delhi Police on November 11.
The police have recently recovered 13 body parts of Walkar. Sources say that the parts were found in Chhatarpur forest area as well as in Maidangarhi pond near Gurugram’s DLF Phase 3, as intimated by the accused only.
Last week, a court here extended Mr. Poonawala’s judicial custody till December 23.
