The gruesome murder of 27-year-old woman Shraddha Walkar rocked India last week.
The news has been trending on social media non-stop since Delhi police revealed that Walkar's body had been cut into 35 parts by Aftab Ameen Poonawala, her live-in partner whom she met on a dating app.
In a hair-raising confession, Poonawala told police he was "inspired" to commit the murder by the American crime drama series "Dexter." He also reportedly confessed to keeping Walkar's body parts in small black polythene bags in the fridge — an idea that he got from the show's main character, serial killer Dexter Morgan.
But that is not the whole story: according to media reports, Poonawala burned Walkar's face after murdering her and then chopped her body into pieces to rule out any possibility of police identifying the girl.
Facing a real challenge, police questioned Poonawala multiple times about Walkar, including two times in Maharashtra's Palghar district in October alone — but they could only arrive at the first conclusions after the man had confessed to the crime.
The authorities found out that the accused had cut the body into pieces and dumped those parts at midnight over the next 18 days in Delhi's Mehrauli forest area, located near the couple's home.
Walkar and Poonawala met via the popular dating app Bumble back in 2019. At the time, both were residing in Maharashtra. Later the same year, they eloped and relocated to Delhi because Walkar's family did not approve of their relationship.
Their relationship, however, did not resemble a happy love story: the couple had altercations regularly, and Walkar's friend even claimed that Poonawala used to beat her on a regular basis.
A senior inspector at the Manikpur Police Station in Maharashtra told Indian media on Wednesday that Poonwala sounded quite confident during his interaction with the police.
"His body language was too calm and composed. In fact, he gave us ideas on tracking and locating her," police reportedly shared.
Although Poonawala has been arrested and reportedly confessed to committing the crime, challenges remain for the Delhi police, as they need to find real evidence to support Poonawala's confession.
The murder weapon — a piece of cloth with which Poonawala supposedly strangulated her, remains missing. Walkar's mobile phone and the clothes she wore during the murder are also yet to be located.
Meanwhile, media reports suggest the authorities have found only 10-13 dismembered bones, suspected of being from Walkar's body, while most of them remain missing.
Only a DNA report will help the police proceed with the case.