Aftab Poonawala, who allegedly killed his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar in 2022, was reportedly on the target list of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, according to Mumbai Police officials investigating the murder of politician Baba Siddique last month.

Sources in the Crime Branch have said that Shivkumar Gautam, the alleged main shooter in the Ajit Pawar party leader’s murder, revealed that Bishnoi gang member Shubham Lonkar had discussed attacking Poonawala with him.

The gang, however, reportedly refrained from attacking Poonawala due to his heightened security at Tihar jail, the sources added.

In a grisly crime that shocked the country, Poonawala allegedly strangled 27-year-old Walkar to death at their rented accommodation in south Delhi’s Chhattarpur Pahadi on May 18, 2022.

The police, in its charge sheet that contains spine chilling details, said Poonawala used a saw, among other weapons, to dismember the body into several parts and store them in a refrigerator. He later disposed of the body parts around forest areas over time.

He was arrested on November 12, 2022 and is currently lodged in Tihar jail.

Siddique (66) was shot dead by three gunmen near his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Mumbai’s Bandra area on October 12. The Bishnoi gang has claimed responsibility for the murder.

According to the police, three shooters were involved in the murder and all of them have been arrested.

Gangster Bishnoi is currently lodged in Gujarat’s Sabarmati jail in a cross-border drug smuggling case.