NEW DELHI: A Delhi Court has granted Aftab Amin Poonawala, the accused in the murder of Shraddha Walker, a single opportunity to recall and examine four prosecution witnesses in the case.
The decision was issued by Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Manisha Khurana Kakkar of the Saket Court, who noted that the witnesses, Sunil Kumar Mishra, Abhay Singh, Manveer Singh, and Krishan Kumar Khandelwal, are crucial to ensuring a fair trial.
“In the interest of justice, one opportunity is hereby granted to the accused to cross-examine these witnesses,” the court ruled on March 28. However, the judge emphasised that this would be the only chance given for their cross-examination.
This stage of the trial is focused on prosecution evidence. The request to recall the witnesses was made by Advocate Akshay Bhandari, representing Poonawala, through an application filed on August 5, 2024. In the plea, it was argued that the accused had previously lost the opportunity to cross-examine these witnesses due to his main counsel’s ill health. The defence maintained that the absence of this examination would cause severe prejudice to Poonawala’s case.
However, the Delhi Police opposed the plea, contending that the accused was responsible for ensuring legal representation, and the counsel’s health issues did not justify recalling the witnesses. The prosecution urged the court to reject the application. Despite the opposition, the court ruled in favour of the accused, recalling two of the witnesses for cross-examination on 4 April.
In one of the rarest gut-churning incidents, Shraddha Walkar, a Mumbai-suburb resident, was allegedly strangled; her body sliced into several pieces, and then dumped at different locations of a forest area in south Delhi and Gurugram by her live-in partner, Aftab Amin Poonawala.
The case that shook the country came to light on November 14, 2023. When Poonawala was arrested by the police, initially he claimed that Shraddhahad left him on May 22 and he was unaware of her whereabouts. However, upon sustained interrogation, he admitted he killed her after a quarrel over marriage.