New Delhi (The Hawk): A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been submitted to the Delhi High Court asking for the Central Bureau of Investigation to take over the investigation into the murder of Shraddha Walkar from the Delhi Police.
On May 18, Walkar was killed in the Mehrauli neighbourhood by her live-in partner Aftab Ameen Poonawalla. The accused then dismembered her body into 35 pieces and scattered them around the city.
Advocate Joshini Tuli, who filed the petition, requested that the case be transferred "due to the sensitive nature of the matter and the hindering of Investigation and the tampering of witnesses and evidence of the current case by the Delhi Police/Respondent No.1 and Respondent No.4"
Furthermore, it claimed that the Mehrauli Police investigation "cannot be carried out efficiently due to administrative/staff paucity as well as lack of sufficient technical and scientific equipment to find out the evidence and the witnesses as the incident had occurred about 6 months ago in May 2022."
The plea made reference to media interferences by stating that "It is relevant to mention here that the Court of the Ld. MM on 17.11.2022 when the accused was produced was chock a block with mediapersons leaving no space for even the lawyers to step foot in the concerned courtroom."
The defence argued that the purported crime scene, which has been contaminated and is still regularly accessed by the public and media personnel, has not yet been sealed up by the Delhi Police.
As a result of the Delhi Police informing the public that Aaftab will be taken to five other states, including Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra, for additional investigation, the case is an interstate offence outside of the Delhi Police's territorial purview, according to the statement.
(Inputs from Agencies)
