A spine-chilling case of murder in Delhi’s Mehrauli was unravelled a few days back. The couple, Aftab Poonawala and Shraddha Walkar were madly in love, however, later it turned into a tragic love story when the former brutally murdered the latter by strangling her, chopping her body, and keeping the parts in a refrigerator.
Shockingly, the TV show Dexter inspired him to do so. Let’s unravel how the show helped the murdered, Aftab in killing his lover, Shraddha.
Dexter: A Little Backstory
Before we go ahead with how the show helped Aftab, it is essential that we know about the show, its highlights, and a basic summary.
Having eight seasons, the dramatic tv show first aired on October 1, 2006, and went on till September 22, 2013. The protagonist of the show is Dexter Morgan who leads two lives, one in the morning and one at night.
In the mornings, he is a professional forensic technician who specializes in bloodstain pattern analysis for Miami Metro Police Department and his role reverses at night as he leads a life of a vigilante serial killer. He hunts murderers who haven’t been punished yet because of the various loopholes in the legal system.
The lead cuts his victims’ bodies into several parts, puts them in garbage bags, and dumps them into the ocean.
Dexter’s dad, Harry, got to know about his son’s problem and created a code when he was quite young. His dad taught him to use his problems for a better world by killing killers who might have escaped from the legal system.
Dexter’s dad acts as his mental partner who discusses cases with him, creates steps so that Dexter doesn’t get caught, and reminds him of his code time and again.
How The Show Inspired Aftab?
After closely examining the case, the police officials stated that the accused was inspired by the American drama show Dexter. The entire case had various elements from the show and he was highly inspired by the protagonist, Dexter Morgan, the police revealed. Poonawala also admitted during the investigation that he was inspired by the show.
The gruesome murder has left the nation shocked and disheartened. After Aftab had chopped her lover’s body into pieces and stored them in the refrigerator he specially bought, he would at night dispose of these parts in polybags similar to what Dexter did in the show.
The only dissimilarity is that Dexter used to kill the accused murderers who somehow escaped due to faults in the justice system and Aftab killed his innocent lover, Shraddha.
Also, in the show, the protagonist possessed “Kill Tools” that he used to cut the bodies of the victims in a “Kill Room”.
The “Kill Tools” consists of knives, a surgical power saw, and a “Messermeister”, a bag of surgical tools and craft items like a meat cleaver, bespoke knife, etc. Similarly, Poonawalla allegedly used a saw to cut Shraddha’s body into 35 pieces and later disposed of them in black plastic bags.
Aftab was a trained chef and hence knew how to use meat knives, said the police. They also revealed that after the murder, he googled how to clean blood stains from the floor with chemicals and he disposed of the clothes he used to clean the blood stains. He used the see her face quite often which he had kept inside the refrigerator after the murder.
Also Read: Police Complaint “He Will Kill Me, Cut Me Up In Pieces” Made 2 Yrs Back; So Why No Action Taken In Shraddha Walkar Case?
Aftab Poonawalla hid the murder quite neatly for several months until Shraddha’s father, Vikas Walkar lodged an FIR for his disappeared daughter with Mumbai Police. After the murder and before the investigation began, Aftab claimed that Shraddha had left him and he used to interact with her friends on social media posing as her.
“I am fond of watching web series and serials on crime and it was while watching these shows that I came up with ideas on preserving the body parts and keeping Shraddha alive in the eyes of her family and friends. It was to prevent any doubts or suspicions about her whereabouts that I kept posting on Shraddha’s Instagram profile after the murder. I did it all by myself,” Aftab told the Delhi Police.
In fact, after he brutally murdered his lover, he became active on the dating app again where he met Shraddha. During investigations, Poonawalla confessed that he brought another woman to his home while the pieces of Shraddha’s body were still in the refrigerator.
The Delhi Police revealed that they are planning to write to the dating app where Aftab met Shraddha to get details of Aftab’s profile and to know about the woman he met after Shraddha’s murder.
A source said, “Delhi Police may write to Bumble for details on Aftab’s profile and the women who visited him at his rented house while Shraddha’s body parts were still in the refrigerator. They want to ascertain if any of the women he dated was the reason for the killing”.
Latest Updates On The Case
Aftab Poonawalla is currently undergoing polygraph sessions as certain unanswered questions related to the case are still remaining.
“We kept our lab open over the weekend for the polygraph test. On Sunday, the investigating team confirmed that they have got approval for Poonawalla’s custody from Tihar jail and will bring him to the lab for the remaining polygraph test session on Monday,” Sanjeev Gupta, Head of the Department of Crime Scene Management at Forensic Science Laboratory said.
A source revealed that Aftab has been kept under “suicide watch” in the Tihar jail and things that can be used for self-harm have been removed from his reach. “Further, jail authorities will also keep an eye on him… Aftab will not be able to do much movement in the jail, there will be a ban on his exit from the cell for some time,” the authorities said.
His polygraph session is scheduled for 28th November and if the session concludes successfully then his narco-analysis will take place.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The Print, NDTV, News 18
Find the blogger: Palak Dogra
This post is tagged under: Shraddha Walkar murder case, Shradha Walkar, Aftab Poonawalla, Dexter, Dexter Morgan, Dexter American show, police, murder case
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
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