Shraddha Walkar Murder Case: Aaftab came to my clinic in May with injuries, claims doctor

Ever since this heinous case came to light, new revelations are happening every day. Today, a city-based doctor claimed that accused Aaftab Amin Poonawala visited his clinic for a wound in May of this year.

Notably, this is the same time when the accused told police that he had killed his live-in partner, Shraddha Vikas Walkar.

Dr Anil Kumar claimed to have recognised Aaftab Poonawala after seeing his photograph in the newspaper following his arrest in the brutal murder case. He runs a clinic in Chhattarpur Mandi, Delhi.

Recalling Poonawala’s visit, Dr Kumar said that the accused came with a knife injury.  “In May, he came in the morning hours. My assistant told me that one person had come with an injury. When I saw him, I found it was not a deep injury but a superficial one. The underline structure was intact. When I asked him how he sustained this injury, he replied it was while he was cutting fruit. I did not have any doubt as it was a small clean knife cut,” Dr Kumar said, as quoted by PTI.

Aaftab Poonawala was arrested by the Delhi Police after the complaint by Shraddha’s father. Aaftab, who works at a call centre in Gurugram, confessed to strangling Shraddha Vikas Walkarand chopping her body into 35 pieces for over two days, storing them into a refrigerator (for three months) and dumping the body parts piece by piece in a forest near Chhattarpur and Qutub Minar.

Police suspect the accused may have visited the doctor on May 18-19, the day he strangled his girlfriend and claimed to have begun chopping her body.

The doctor also mentioned that Aaftab appeared to be very confident and spoke in English, which is unusual for his patients in this area.  “My patients in this part of the city normally speak Hindi. When I asked him about the injury, he replied in English. The man appeared to be very confident. He spoke in English and told me he was from Mumbai and came to Delhi as the city has good opportunities in the IT sector and was getting a good salary. I remember this because my wife is also from Mumbai,” Dr Kumar said.

Dr Kumar further added that the accused appeared to be aggressive, bold, and restless when he came to his clinic.

“Two days ago, police brought him to my clinic and asked me if I recognised him. I confirmed this,” he said.

Apart from the doctor, the Delhi Police have also recorded the statements of the couple’s mutual friend, Badri, owner of the electronic appliances shop, from where Aftab brought the fridge, and the shopkeeper from whose shop the 28-year-old accused brought a hacksaw. 

The couple, who are both from Maharashtra, lived together in Vasai (West), Maharashtra, till February 2022. They then traveled to Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand before arriving in Delhi.