Kozhikode: Following the horrific Delhi murder case where a 28-year-old man, Aaftab Ameen Poonawalla was arrested for allegedly killing and butchering his 27-year-old live-in partner Shraddha Vikas Walkar, experts pitched possible reasons for the heinous crime.
At a webinar on the “Role of personality traits in serial killing” organised by the Kozhikode-based Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience (IMHNS), they analysed the cause of murder and the psychological state of the killer.
Addressing the webinar, Disaster Mental Health Expert and Advisor to National Mental Health Programme, Naresh Purohit on Wednesday said 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, Purohit added explaining the chopping into 35 pieces, which Aaftab tried disposing of at different locations in and around the national capital.
He categorically said personality traits play a bigger role in serial killing. Accused must’ve done what he did in the moment of rage due to pent up furry against his girlfriend.
Principal Investigator for the Association of Studies for Mental Care, Purohit averred that people who show signs of psychopathy, mostly feel pleasure after doing something like this, but in this case, Shraddha was his girlfriend and he possibly didn’t feel any remorse but did not feel any pleasure either.
The neuroscientist averred that it has been reported that Aaftab was inspired by the American crime show called ‘Dexter’, which tells the story of a man with homicidal tendencies who lives a double life.
Amid these shows being consumed at a higher rate, the researcher pointed that these documentaries or films are capable of disturbing the mental health of a person.
“Personality traits like rage, serious aggression issues, lack of empathy and egoism play a bigger role in such reported crimes,” he said.
“A person with these traits already has a tendency to commit a crime and consuming such content may encourage the person to do so,” he added.
He stated that anger and aggressive nature are seen in a psychopath person. Such people do not cause any dangerous incidents.Their lifestyle is a little different. A person with psychopathy disorder does not care about anyone.
“When psychopaths watch a movie or a web series, their first choice is to see some violence in them and learn new methods of crime. So that they can execute any crime very well. It is worrying that a person does not even know that he is suffering from this disease,” he said.
He explained that serial killers always kill people they have no direct relationship with. Serial killers also lack emotion, but they commit crimes because of a specific motive, whereas a psychopath may harm his acquaintances or even relatives.
Experts in the webinar said that antisocial personality disorder is also seen in some cases due to psychopathy personality disorder. Because of this, these people live in their own world without caring about anyone.
They said that a person suffering from psychopathy disorder can also have paranoid and schizoid disorders. People start going crazy with these diseases. Person doesn’t even think before committing something dangerous.
Experts urged on the need to be more open about mental health when it comes to identifying such personalities.
They said in most cases the outcome can be traced back to childhood trauma and because mental health is still considered taboo in most parts of the globe even now, people battling such trauma or mental health issues can consider themselves to be weak.
These suppressed emotions make them want to target people who they consider weaker than them.
“Even though it is difficult for normal people to identify such people. If someone is coming up with different versions of the same topic, it’s easy to tell they are manipulating their personality. Or they are showing off too much as they are under constant fear to mask their personality.”
“They don’t want their real personalities to show which is why they will be extra sweet, and that is the reason why more people are attracted to them very easily. Initially, they will overdo romantic gestures, always be on call with him/her and would be over-invested.”
“These are signs one must look out for because anything in excess is not good and balanced people have a balanced approach. With these people, the high points and the low points in the relationship are drastic.”
“They can lose interest very fast once the initial phase is over. The moment they think they have the situation or the person under control, then they will show their actual colour. Usually, they are the charmers or leaders,” the experts observed.
