Deja Vu Delhi Crime: Five murders that shocked India before Shraddha Walkar

New Delhi: The news of 28-year-old Aftab Amin Poonawalla murdering his alleged live-in partner Shraddha Walkar, chopping her body into pieces and scattering them across Delhi’s Mehrauli forest over 18 days has left the country in deep shock.

Gruesome details about the murder and how he kept it under wraps for more than five months — he bought a fridge to stuff the pieces of Shraddha and used incense sticks to keep the foul smell away — have now surfaced after he was arrested by the Delhi Police.

India has witnessed several such gruesome murders in the past. Here are 5 murders that left the country shocked.

The Belarani Dutta murder case

In 1954, a sweeper noticed three newspaper-wrapped packets outside a toilet near the Keoratala crematorium in Kolkata. The newspaper covering was torn around the edges, and when the sweeper peeped to see what was inside, he was shocked. The package was tied with a coconut coil rope, there were marks of dried blood on the newspaper, and protruding from it were human fingers.

Officers from the Tollygunge police station came and opened the packet. Two arms that went up to the elbow joint — palm, fingers, wrist were found. All of these had been chopped into pieces.

A mutilated head was also found. The police could not identify the severely damaged face of the victim. A plastic surgeon was brought onboard to reconstruct the face of the dead person. It was later discovered that a missing man named Biren Dutta was leading a dual life marrying two women named Belarani and Meera. Biren killed Belarani who was pregnant with his child and later cut her body into pieces.

Neeraj Grover murder case

Susairaj and her partner Emile Jerome were accused in the murder of young naval officer Neeraj Grover in Mumbai. Grover had met Susairaj through a TV audition.

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Susairaj and Grover had an extramarital affair which was discovered by Emile Jerome. Jerome murdered Grover after finding in a compromising position with his wife. The husband and wife later conspired to hide the body by butchering Grover’s body into pieces and then drove to the outskirts of Mumbai with his remains. In order to trick the authorities, Susairaj herself went to Mumbai Police to file a missing person’s complaint.

Nithari killings

Surinder Koli was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a girl called Rimpa Haldar from Nithari village in February 2006. Koli, along with his employer Moninder Singh Pandher, was arrested on 29 December 2006, after the police recovered skeletons and other belongings of missing girls from the drain outside Pnadher’s house in Noida on the outskirts of the national capital.

Koli had allegedly killed several girls, chopping their bodies to pieces before throwing them in the backyard and in the drain. The Supreme Court in June 2015 agreed to hear Uttar Pradesh government’s plea against commutation of death sentence of Surender Koli, convicted in 2006 Nithari serial killings case and issued a notice to the convict.

The death sentence of Surender Koli was commuted to life imprisonment by the Allahabad high court on the ground of “inordinate delay” in deciding his mercy petition.

Kerala human sacrifice case

Two women were sacrificed in the Elanthoor village of the Pathanamthitta district in Kerala and their body parts were probably cooked and consumed by a medic couple on the false promise that they would attain wealth.

The three conspirators in the case — a perverted Muhammad Shafi, who claimed to be a sorcerer, and the couple, Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila — have now been arrested.

In 2021, India recorded a total of five deaths in connection to human sacrifices while another 68 deaths were linked to witchcraft.

When it comes to a state-wise breakdown of human sacrifice deaths in 2021, Kerala saw two cases whereas Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana each reported a case.

In 2020, 11 murders were linked to human sacrifices and 88 in connection to witchcraft

Geeta and Sanjay Chopra kidnapping case

The Geeta and Sanjay Chopra kidnapping case (also known as the Ranga-Billa case) was a kidnapping and murder crime in New Delhi in 1978. It involved the kidnapping and subsequent murder of siblings Geeta and Sanjay by Kuljeet Singh (alias Ranga Khus) and Jasbir Singh (alias Billa).

Although the children were kidnapped for ransom, they were killed after the kidnappers learned that their father was a naval officer, in the assumption that he was not wealthy. Both men initially admitted to raping Geeta before her murder. They later retracted their statements and forensic evidence could not confirm the rape.

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