Aftab
Poonawala, the man accused of killing his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar,
received a water bill even though Delhi provides 20,000 litres of water to
residents for free. Poonawala and Walkar lived in Mehrauli. Police are probing
why Poonawala needed water in such large quantities and if that had anything to
do with disposing his girlfriend’s body.

Aftab
Poonawala is alleged to have strangled Shraddha Walkar to death in May this
year. After the alleged murder, Poonawala is accused of having cut Walkar’s
body into 35 pieces and spreading them across Delhi. Police are yet to recover
all the parts. When Poonawala was arrested earlier this month, police had found
10 out of the 35 pieces.

The
Mehrauli murder case has come with one shocking revelation after another. The
water bill is another element added to everything that is strange with this
murder case.

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Police think
the accused used running tap water to mask chopping sounds, hot water to wash
off blood from the body, and a cleaning agent to mix with water to remove
stains from the flat, NDTV reported citing sources.

The water
bill is strange because the Delhi government provides 20,000 litres of water
free to residents, which amounts to roughly 35 buckets a day. In Mehrauli where
the incident took place, most homes receive a “zero bill”.

Aftab and
Shraddha were living in their rental Mehrauli flat on May 14. On May 18, Aftab
is alleged to have murdered Shraddha, and was therefore living alone. That so
much water could be required by person seemed strange to the police, who now
seek to investigate the water bill.

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“Such a
high water bill is quite surprising,” said the Mehrauli flat owner Rohan Kumar’s
father Rajendra Kumar. The rental agreement for the flat featured both Shraddha
and Aftab’s name, Shraddha’s first. “He (Aftab) used to transfer the rent online
between the 8th and 10th of every month. That’s why I
never needed to go to the flat,” Kumar said.