New Delhi: The Saket court on May 29 listed the Shraddha Walkar murder case for day-to-day hearings starting July 20 in a bid to expedite the trial proceedings in court. Aftab Amin Poonawala is currently facing trial for allegedly murdering his live-in partner, Shraddha Walkar.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Hargurvarinder Singh Jaggi listed the matter for recording Prosecution evidence daily from July 20 to July 25. Thereafter, the dates for August will be decided. There are eight Prosecution witnesses who are to be examined. 13 witnesses’ chief evidence has been partly recorded, and there are 12 witnesses whose evidence was deferred. This case has been pending since 2023.
During the hearing, the court recorded the evidence of Head Constable Deepak and discharged him for today after the Defence counsel sought time to go through a video connected with the case. He also showed his inability to argue daily due to other cases.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) submitted that three separate applications dated 24.12.2024, 17.02.2025 and 10.07.2025 seeking permission to record the evidence to witnesses Aarti Sheth, Nodal Officer, Google (Gmail), Luke Mitsi, Nodal Officer, Bumble, Shelby Smith, Nodal Officer-Google LLC and Adrian Silvera, Nodal Officer, WhatsApp LLC and Meta Platforms, Inc and Mr Brian Carl Corroll Nodal Officer, Hopper (USA) Inc. through video conference under Rule 6 of the High Court of Delhi Rules for video conferencing for Courts, 2021 are pending for filing of reply by the accused.
The court reserved its order on these applications after defence counsel said that he didn’t want to file a reply. The court will pronounce an order on June 1 at 4 PM. The court rejected his contention after hearing submissions of Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Madhukar Pandey and advocate Seema Kushwaha, counsel for the complainant.
The court also told the accused, Aftab Amin Poonawala, to engage a new counsel if his present counsel is not able to argue his case due to time constraints. It is alleged that Shraddha Walkar was murdered by his friend Aftab Amin Poonawala in May 2022.
An FIR was lodged at the Mehrauli police station in November 2022. It is alleged that Aftab threw the body parts of Shraddha in the jungle after the murder. Shraddha’s father, Vikas Walkar, died in 2025.
(With inputs from ANI)
