Weeks after he brutally murdered his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar in their flat in Mehrauli, Aaftab Amin Poonawala had paid Rs 20,000 to shift 37 boxes of "regular household items" from his flat in Maharashtra's Palghar to Delhi.
Govind Yadav, proprietor of Goodluck Movers and Packers, told The Quint that Poonawala's consignment had consisted of regular household articles and that he had never spoken to the accused on phone.
"They booked our services for Rs 20,000. The payment was transferred on my phone. This is about 6 months ago, in June... There were ordinary household items – clothes, washing machine, utensils," he said.
After recording his statement for the police on Sunday, 20 November, Yadav, while speaking to the media, had mentioned that a fridge was among the household items shifted from Vasai to Mehrauli.
However, speaking to The Quint, the business owner claimed that he does not remember if a fridge was among the items that were shifted, as the order was from 6 months ago and he had been visiting his village at the time.
'Never Spoke on the Phone With Client'
Yadav further stated that he had never spoken with Poonawala on the phone.
"Our movers and packers business is entirely online. The order was placed online, and we sent our boys for an enquiry to check what household items are there for shifting. The payment is also done online. I never spoke on phone with the client."Govind Yadav, Proprietor of Goodluck Movers and Packers
A paper receipt of the order, accessed by The Quint, notes the date of the booking as 5 June. The receipt also mentions that there were 37 boxes in the order for shifting items from a flat in Evershine City, Vasai, for which a payment of Rs 20,000 had been received.
"I was called by the Vasai Police. They told me to find any documents we had related to the client whose belongings we had moved. The Delhi Police had come for the probe. We handed them the document. We don't have any other knowledge about this case," Yadav had told the media on Sunday evening, after recording his statement for the police.
Poonawala and Shraddha Walkar had been living in Vasai West till March 2022, after which they left for a holiday in Himachal Pradesh and later moved base to Delhi.
In mid-May, Poonawala had allegedly strangled Walkar, chopped her body into at least 35 parts, and stored her remains in a fridge as he gradually disposed of them at different locations around their Chhattarpur flat.
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