Lawrence Bishnoi gang planned to ‘target’ Shraddha Walkar killer Aftab Poonawalla, reveals Baba Siddique shooter

The investigation into the Baba Siddique murder case reportedly revealed that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang had plans to target Aftab Poonawalla, the accused in the 2022 Shraddha Walkar murder case.

Shiva Kumar, the main shooter in Baba Siddique's killing, revealed that Shubham Lonkar, a Bishnoi gang member, had discussed attacking Poonawalla, the Times of India reported.

However, the gang allegedly refrained due to Poonawalla’s heightened security.

The report quoted a police official as saying, “Shiva disclosed that Shubham Lonkar, a member of the Bishnoi gang, and other senior figures had expressed intentions to target Aftab. This intelligence has now been shared with the Delhi police for further security measures.”

Baba Siddique murder

Siddique, a former Maharashtra minister and leader in Ajit Pawar's faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was shot multiple times near Nirmal Nagar in Mumbai on October 12. Three assailants shot him outside his son MLA Zeeshan Siddique's office building in Bandra East.

The Mumbai Police last week arrested the main shooter in the Baba Siddiqui murder case, Shiva Kumar, in Uttar Pradesh. Police had earlier arrested two accused, Gurmail Singh, a native of Haryana, and Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh.

Shraddha Walker case

Shraddha Walker, 27, was allegedly murdered by her live-in partner, Aftab, in Delhi in 2022. Walker's body was cut into 35 pieces and stored in a refrigerator in the accused's residence for almost three weeks before being dumped across the city.

During the polygraph test, Poonawalla told police that he read up on human anatomy before chopping Shraddha's body. After browsing on the internet for ways to remove the traces of the murder, Poonawala mopped blood stains with some chemicals and also disposed of all stained clothes.

The Delhi Police seized five knives from the Chhatarpur flat of Poonawala. The knives have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for examination to ascertain if these were used in commission of the crime, the sources in the police department said.