Shraddha murder case: City psychologists say Aaftab must’ve killed her in a fit of rage, and chopped the body to hide his crime

Mumbai: Following the horrific Delhi murder case where a man, Aaftab Ameen Poonawalla, 28, was arrested for allegedly killing his 26-year-old live-in partner Shraddha Vikas Walkar, chopping her body into 35 pieces, and disposing of the body parts at different places in and around the national capital - psychologists pitch into the possible reasons around the cause of muder and the psychological state of the killer.The psychologists say that this crime, as of now, shows that the accused must've killed his girlfriend in a fit of rage without thinking of the repercussions and the cutting of the body for disposal must've come as a survival instinct to cover his tracks and avoid an arrest. However, they also suspect that post this traumatic incident, the killer, who is showing no remorse or guilt now, might advance to a stage of psychopathy as he has done the act once, and might do it again as he has reached a very low level of emotional quotient. Accused must’ve done what he did in the moment of rageA psychologist based in Pune, Joleen Baptist, said, "Based on the developments in the case as of now, I feel that the accused must’ve done what he did in the moment of rage and pent up furry against his girlfriend. The killing must’ve been quick but disposing of the body without getting caught must’ve led the accused to do some research about it after which he thought of cutting it in pieces and disposing of it like the ones he watched in various crime based series. He must not have thought about the repercussions while committing the crime. Also if we want to know whether there are any traits of a psychological concern in him then we have to dive deeper into his past patterns and other incidents to come to that conclusion."He possibly didn't feel any remorse or pleasure after crimeAccording to the psychologist, people who show signs of psychopathy, mostly feel pleasure after doing something like this, but in this case, she was his girlfriend and he possibly didn't feel any remorse but did not feel any pleasure either. He mustn’t have felt remorse because maybe she was a big reason for his frustration which ended after he killed her so he did not show signs of feeling guilty."He must’ve also thought of cutting the body and disposing it off as an option because he knew she was not in contact with her parents and it made it easier for him. His not having any kind of emotional response could be his reaction to the trauma the incident created for him. Staying in the same house, eating food kept in the same fridge could all be a part of his way of dealing with the incident and trying to normalise what he did," added Baptist. Adding to this, Neha Patel, psychologist from Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital (NSSH), said, “I think he is a person with very high impulsiveness which led to this incident. He showed signs of a sociopath who lacks remorse for their actions and thinks that they can easily get away with wrongdoings. Also we see no sense of guilt from him because the brutality which he did has already been done months ago and he has lived through it and become numb towards anything related to that incident now."We cannot sketch an entire psycho-analysis of the accusedCity psychiatrist, Dr Harish Shetty, said, “Based on the initial developments of the case, we cannot sketch an entire psycho-analysis of the accused, it is not possible to declare him as a psychopath and we also cannot completely dismiss the fact that he disposed of the body so meticulously which is not normal. Therefore the police have to dig deeper into the case and after a proper analysis, they will be able to draw a conclusion.”“Infact, through this case, people should be made more aware of the possible incidents that can occur. Girls and boys should become more vigilant about the red-flags which they see in a relationship and promptly act according to it,” he added.

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