Delhi murder: Aaftab gave cigarette burns to Shraddha Walker, claims victim's friend

Rajat Shukla, a friend of Shraddha Walker who was brutally killed in May, has claimed that her live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala used to give her cigarette burns, but she desisted from approaching the police as she wanted to give him "another chance".

Shraddha Walker used to get cigarette burns from her live-in lover and alleged murderer, Aaftab Poonawala, but she refrained from calling the police because she wanted to give him another opportunity, one of her friends claimed. According to Walker's college friend Rajat Shukla, she cut herself apart from her family and all of her friends after beginning a relationship with Poonawala.

He remarked, "We felt awful after hearing about how Aaftab burned her with a cigarette on her back in 2021 when Shraddha told one of her close female friends about it." According to Shukla, her friends then went to see Poonawala and threatened to call the police if he continued to mistreat her.

He said, "I believe that Shraddha's request for us to give him one more opportunity caused her life."

In the latest round of developments with the case, the Delhi Police has seized five knives from the Chhatarpur flat of Aftab Amin Poonawala, sources said on Thursday. Police stated that they have not yet located the saw that was used to chop her corpse.

Poonawala is accused of killing Shraddha by strangling her and sawing her body into 35 pieces, which he reportedly stored in a 300-liter refrigerator at his home in Mehrauli, South Delhi, for about three weeks before disposing of them over many days. In May, the murder took place.

In the meantime, Poonawala was undergoing a second session of the polygraph test at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Rohini. Due to the accused's illness and cold on Wednesday, the test could not be completed.  Narco analysis of the accused test can only be conducted after getting his medical report. Poonawala's narco analysis is likely to be conducted on Monday, the sources said.