[Shraddha murder case] PIL in Delhi High Court seeks transfer of investigation against Aftab Amin Poonawalla to CBI

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking the transfer of the investigation against Aftab Amin Poonawalla - accused of murdering his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar - from the Delhi Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) [Joshini Tuli v. State of NCT]..The PIL filed by a practicing advocate, Joshini Tuli, claims that the Delhi Police has revealed minute and sensitive details of the investigation to the public through the media."That so far the Delhi Police/P.S. Mehrauli have revealed each and every detail to the media and public person regarding every step of their investigation which is not permitted as per law," the plea reads.Further, it is argued that the presence of media and other public persons at the site of recoveries, in court hearings and so on amounts to interference with the evidence and witnesses in the present case..The petitioner also clarifies that the relief sought is only likely to affect the accused, complainant and the citizens of Delhi at large, not any other persons, bodies or institutions..The plea highlights that the murder has been alleged to have taken place in Delhi, after which body parts of the victim were disposed of at different places. Therefore, the Mehrauli Police Station was not equipped to carry out the investigation due to lack of staff and paucity of technical equipment. "P.S. Mehrauli cannot be efficiently be carried out due to administrative/staff paucity as well as lack of sufficient technical and scientific equipment to find out the evidences and the witnesses as the incident had taken place about 6 months back in May, 2022.".It was further stated that as per statements made by the Delhi Police to the media, the accused will be taken to five different states in furtherance of the investigation. Hence, the case was "inter-state" and beyond the territorial jurisdiction of Delhi Police, the lawyer claimed..The macabre murder case involves a couple who had allegedly met on dating app Bumble and subsequently entered into a live-in relationship. They were initially based out of Mumbai before shifting to Delhi early this year.According to the police, on May 18 this year, after a quarrel between the couple in a rented flat in Mehrauli, the accused strangulated the victim, chopped her body into 35 pieces, stored it in a fridge and later dumped the parts in different areas of the city over the next 18 days.