Locating murder weapon, tracing victim's DNA: Police face several challenges in Mehrauli murder case

Bones recovered so far need to be verified with forensic analysis, police said

Senior Delhi Police officers told IE that multiple teams had been deployed to recover evidence since the case, at present, rested on Poonawala's purported confession. The murder weapon used by the accused is yet to be located, police said. More than 10 suspected body parts have been recovered over several days from a forested area, mostly in the form of bones but police said they needed to be verified with forensic analysis. A senior official from the Forensic Science Laboratory told IE that the DNA analysis could take several weeks as the samples were very old. According to a senior forensics doctor at Safdarjung Hospital, DNA matching and identification of a victim is done with blood samples from parents and siblings and recovered bones can be samples for the same, the report said. “While bones recovered can be used for DNA even after years, we have to recover some bone marrow in it,” he told IE.

Poonawala allegedly told the police that he took at least 25 to 30 trips to the forest to discard pieces of the victim's body. The woman's phone was also allegedly dumped outside Delhi. "It has been six months since the murder," said a senior police officer, speaking to IE. "He can be misleading us about the spots. We are, however, doing everything we can to recover the pieces. The Mehrauli jungle and neighbouring fields and forest areas are dense and huge. The flesh of any human could get decomposed or be eaten by an animal. We have clues about the murder weapon and will recover it." Poonawala allegedly used a saw to chop the body into pieces.

Also Read | Mehrauli murder: Aaftab looked confident, remorseless when quizzed earlier, say Maharashtra police

The police said that Poonawala chopped up Shraddha's body and bought a refrigerator to store the body parts. To counter the stench, he purportedly lit incense sticks at his home. The accused also reportedly began a new job at a call centre a few days after the murder.

The police took Poonawala to the Mehrauli forest area to locate the body parts that he had allegedly disposed of there. He had purportedly discarded the parts at various locations over 18 days.

Also Read | Mehrauli murder accused taken to crime spot in forest where he dumped body parts

During his interrogation, Poonawala allegedly named locations near Shamshan Ghat where he had dumped body parts but police said they were still trying to trace the evidence.

Shraddha, the victim, worked with a call centre of a multinational company in Mumbai when she met Poonawala. Her family apparently did not approve of their relationship and the couple then eloped to Delhi. They had been together since 2019, according to reports. Shraddha's father told the police that he was informed by his daughter's friend on Oct. 14 that there had been no contact with her for two-and-a-half months and that her mobile phone was switched off.

A police team looked at technical surveillance and CCTV footage from the area where Shraddha lived, which led to Poonawala, who was then detained.