Shraddha murder case: Water bills to be used as proof to cement Aftab's guilt

New Delhi, November 17: The Delhi Police has come across a fresh lead in the investigation of the Shraddha Walker murder case, in which they have found a pending water bill in accused Aftab Poonawalla's flat, given the circumstances that 20,000 litres of water in Delhi is provided free by the government, according to the sources.

The Delhi Police will present the accused before Saket Court today and seek his further custody.

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The police are likely to investigate this angle as the Delhi government gives 20,000 litres of water for free. Two neighbours living on the floor above Aftab had informed the police that the water bill of all the floors comes to zero, except for Aftab's, who had an outstanding due of Rs 300, thus rising suspicion.

"After the murder, Aftab used a lot of water to clean the blood stains leading to a high water bill and the pending bill. Neighbours told the Police that Aftab used to regularly go and check the building's water tank," the sources said.

The police have also got the information that in the rent agreement which was made, Aftab had put Shraddha's name first and his own name at the last.

"The flat owner knew that they are not a married couple. They were given the flat through a broker. Aftab used to deposit Rs 9,000 into the account of the owner between 8 and 10 of every month," the sources said.

The water bill is also likely to play an important role in the investigation. Today, if the court grants further custody to the police, they are likely to investigate this angle as well, according to the sources.

Earlier, Aftab had told police that before the murder there was a fight between the couple over the shifting of household items from Mumbai.

Police investigation revealed that the couple had a fight on May 18 during which Aftab killed Shraddha.

Delhi Police sources said the May 18 quarrel was not the first time, Aftab and Shraddha were fighting for three years.

"On May 18, there was a fight between the two regarding bringing household items from Mumbai. They used to fight over who would bear the household expenses and bring items. Aftab got very angry about this. The quarrel started around 8 pm on May 18 when Aftab strangled Shraddha to death. He kept her body in the room overnight and went to buy a knife and refrigerator the next day," sources stated. 

Aftab was arrested on Saturday after Delhi police started probing into a missing complaint filed by Shraddha's father Vikas Walker.

Aftab had attempted to dupe the police of Delhi and Mumbai in the initial days of the investigation.

Aftab had tried to hide the murder of Shraddha by removing any physical evidence, however, he had left the digital evidence that the police traced to reach the truth of the case.

However, the truth came to the fore when the police checked the phone call records of the couple and investigated their locations.

The biggest breakthrough the police got was the bank statement of the couple's account which showed a transaction of Rs 54,000 from Shraddha's net banking account app to Aftab's account on May 26. The transaction exposed Aftab's lies in which he had earlier said that Shraddha was unreachable after May 22 and he did not come in contact with her, the sources said.

Aftab could not answer the police question that if Shraddha had carried her phone along with herself, why was its location being traced to his house? It was at this moment that Aftab revealed the truth.

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The Maharashtra Police sources said that when Shraddha's family could not contact her due to her phone being switched off, they filed the missing complaint at the Manikpur police station. Following the complaint, Aftab was summoned to the Manikpur police station for questioning.

Meanwhile, Shraddha's father on Tuesday demanded the death penalty for the accused while also suspecting 'love jihad' behind the incident.