Delhi: Men with swords attack police van carrying Shraddha murder accused Aftab Poonawala, arrested
Shraddha Walkar murder case: A police van carrying accused Shraddha Walkar murder accused Aftab Poonawala was attacked by a group of people with swords outside the Forensic Science Laboratory in Rohini where he was taken for a polygraph test on Monday. The attackers flashed swords toward the police personnel but cops present in the vehicle pointed guns at them to defend and overpowered them. They detained the accused.
A car stopped the police van in the evening after overtaking it. A few people came out of the car and started attacking the van carrying Poonawala, they said.
The van was driven out of the spot while two attackers were detained, the police said, adding the incident took place around 6.45 pm.
In videos of the purported incident circulating on social media, a police personnel could be seen pulling out his service revolver to disperse the attackers carrying swords.
In one of the clips, a few attackers claimed that they belonged to a right-wing group and that their intention was to avenge the killing of Shraddha Walkar by chopping Poonawala into pieces.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) G S Sidhu said, "Two persons have been detained for questioning."
According to the police, the two detained have been identified as Kuldeep and Nigam. Further legal action will be taken as per the law, they said.
Reacting to the incident, Hindu Sena national president Vishnu Gupta, said, "Whatever these activists have done is by reacting to their personal feelings. The whole country got to know how Poonawala cut a Hindu girl into pieces."
"The organisation does not support any such work which is against the Constitution of India. We believe in the law," he said.
According to reports, police personnel guarding the van had to open fire in the air in defense.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police on Monday recovered some weapons that were used to chop off Shraddha Walkar's body. Police have also recovered Shraddha's ring that Aftab had gifted to another girl whom he invited to his flat just after committing the murder, sources said. In May this year, Walkar, 27, was allegedly murdered by Poonawala in Delhi.
He allegedly strangled Walkar and sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in South Delhi’s Mehrauli area before dumping them across the city over several days past midnight.
A team of Delhi police which is probing the murder case on Thursday conducted a search in Bhayander creek near Mumbai for a mobile phone, an official said. The search was conducted with the help of personnel of the Mira-Bhayandar-Vasai-Virar Police, he said.
The police team from the national capital is camping in Vasai area near Mumbai, from which Walkar and her live-in partner and alleged murderer Aaftab Poonawala hailed, for a week. The investigators also recorded statements of Walkar and Poonawala's friends, relatives and owners of the flats they had rented, among others.
He was arrested on November 12 and sent to five-day police custody, which was further extended by five days on November 17. On November 22, he was sent to police custody for four days. The court On November 26, sent him to judicial custody for 13 days.
Also Read: Ring, murder weapon used to chop of Shraddha Walkar's body recovered
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