Delhi court to hear charges against Shraddha murder accused on Mar 7

A Delhi court on Friday listed for March 7 hearing on the charges against Aaftab Amin Poonawala for allegedly strangling his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and then chopping her body into several pieces. Principal District and Sessions Judge Narottam Kaushal assigned the case to the court of Additional Sessions Judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar, who has now fixed the date for the hearing. On February 21, the city’s Saket court on had sent the case to the sessions court for initiation of trial proceedings. Metropolitan Magistrate Aviral Shukla had said: “Scrutiny of documents is complete… Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code is exclusively triable by sessions court.” “The accused be produced before Principal District and Sessions Judge on February 24 at 2 p.m..” Poonawala had requested the court at the hearing for permission to carry a copy of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), a notebook, and a pen to the proceedings so that he could take notes and help his counsel. In response, Poonawala was directed to file an application before the Sessions court. On February 13, Poonawala had filed applications in the court for release of a ‘proper’ soft copy of the charge sheet and his educational certificates to pursue higher studies.