India has recently been rocked by a new gruesome murder case, in which a man killed his partner, dismembered her body into 235 pieces and stored the organs in a 300-liter refrigerator at his home, after "taking inspiration from the American thriller series Dexter," according to investigators.
Police in Delhi arrested Aptab Poonawalla, 28, on suspicion of murdering his girlfriend of three years, 27, in May, dismembering her body into dozens of pieces, putting the pieces in a refrigerator and disposing of them around the city over the course of several months. Poonawalla is currently in custody and told the court last week that "the information spread about me is not true" and that he is "cooperating with the police investigation".
The couple moved in together despite family opposition (photo: official website, Twitter)
The refrigerator where the body parts were stored (photo: official website, Twitter)
The case was opened after Valkar's father reported her missing.
Since then, horrifying details about the murder - dubbed the "refrigerator murder" - have been published daily in the Indian media, fueling outrage in the streets.
Demonstrators even burned effigies of Poonawalla demanding a particularly severe punishment.
Valkar and Poonawalla lived in the same area of Mumbai but met on the dating site Bumble, according to police.
According to Valkar's father, the two met at the customer service center where they worked in 2018.
According to him, her family did not support the relationship.
Her father wrote in the complaint he submitted to the police that he tried to convince her not to move in with Poonawalla because "we are Hindus, while Aptab is a Muslim, and we don't usually marry outside our caste or religion."
But the couple started living together in 2019 and then moved to Delhi.
According to friends of the couple, the two were killed in an emergency fight.
They accused Poonawalla of abuse.
Superintendent of Police Ankit Chauhan told ANI that Valkar had pressured Poonawalla to marry her, and on "May 18, he got angry and strangled her."
Valkar's father complained to the Mumbai police after his daughter's friends said they had not heard from her for several months and that her phone had been switched off.
Demonstrations after the shocking murder (photo: official website, Twitter)
Last week, a note written by Valkar in 2020 was revealed in which she complained to the police that her partner was beating her "and threatened to kill her and cut her into pieces", according to the police in Delhi.
The police added that Poonawalla confessed to the murder and provided them with clues to find evidence.
After searching his apartment, he led them to a nearby forest where he "disposed of the body parts."
Police said they found several bones and body parts that were sent for DNA analysis and more.
In addition, searches are being conducted in the suburbs of Delhi for knives that Poonawalla apparently used to dismember the body.
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