Van carrying Aaftab attacked, two men held

On Monday evening, a five-member team from the third battalion of Delhi Armed Police was escorting Poonawala back to Tihar from the FSL offices when a car intercepted the police van

A group of men from a fringe right-wing Hindu outfit, some wielding swords, on Monday tried to attack Aaftab Poonawala outside the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) offices in Rohini while Delhi Police personnel were escorting him back to Tihar jail, officers aware of the incident said, highlighting a serious lapse in Poonawala’s security arrangements.

**EDS: VIDEO GRAB** New Delhi: Sword-wielding men from Hindu Sena try to attack Aaftab Poonawala, accused in Mehrauli murder case, who is being carried in a police van outside Forensic Science Laboratory in New Delhi, Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. (PTI Photo) (PTI11_28_2022_000200B) (PTI)

Poonawala, 28, is accused of killing his girlfriend Shraddha Walkar, 27, at their flat in south Delhi’s Chhattarpur Pahadi on May 18, chopping her body into at least 35 pieces, and then dumping the body parts in forested areas in and around the Capital. He was arrested for Walkar’s murder on November 12, and over the last week, police have been taking him to the FSL offices for polygraph tests to help them in recovering Walkar’s body parts.

On Monday evening, a five-member team from the third battalion of Delhi Armed Police was escorting Poonawala back to Tihar from the FSL offices when a car intercepted the police van. In a video that has since emerged on social media, one man armed with a sword attempts to enter the van but steps back after someone yells that Poonawala is being guarded by policemen.

Deputy commissioner of police (Rohini) Guriqbal Singh Sidhu said two of the vigilantes were arrested from the spot. The accused, identified as Kuldeep Thakur, who deals in automobile spare parts, and Nigam, a truck driver, are both residents of Gurugram.

“We have registered a first information report and are questioning the two men. Further legal action against them will be taken accordingly,” said Sidhu.

Vishnu Gupta, who leads the fringe outfit, said, “The organisation does not support any such work which is against the Constitution of India, we believe in the law.”

An officer from the third battalion, on condition of anonymity, said that the local police did not deploy enough personnel to handle any untoward situation. “Our escort team members were armed with weapons and ensured that the inmate was not harmed,” the officer said.

However, Sidhu dismissed the allegation, saying, “We had made sufficient police arrangements outside the FSL.”

Meanwhile, FSL officials said Poonawala’s polygraph test is yet to be completed, despite a nearly eight-hour session on Monday.

“Poonawala underwent the final session of the polygraph test for nearly eight hours. The session could not be completed and is likely to resume on Tuesday as well. Poonawala was much more responsive and cooperative on Monday as compared to his previous sessions,” said FSL’s assistant director Sanjeev Kumar Gupta.