Friend aided killer of content creator locate house: Cops

A month after a 21-year-old fashion content creator and Delhi University student was allegedly killed by a man she had previously been in a relationship with in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, police have filed a more than 350-page charge sheet saying that the accused had planned to kill her and a friend of his had “helped” him trace the victim’s residence and then harboured him after he had killed her

A month after a 21-year-old fashion content creator and Delhi University student was allegedly killed by a man she had previously been in a relationship with in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, police have filed a more than 350-page charge sheet saying that the accused had planned to kill her and a friend of his had “helped” him trace the victim’s residence and then harboured him after he had killed her.

The murder was discovered around an hour later when the domestic help found Muskan lying in a pool of blood.

On August 26, while the victim, Muskan Sharma, was alone at home in Old Mahavir Nagar, 27-year-old Imran Khan came to see her. He strangled her before stabbing her three times in her chest and abdomen. The murder was discovered around an hour later when the domestic help found Muskan lying in a pool of blood.

HT had reported at the time that, according to a preliminary investigation, Muskan and Imran had known each other for two years and had been dating for nearly one-and-a-half years. She used to go to the local gym where Imran had been employed.

The charge sheet, filed on Saturday and seen by HT, said that Khan’s friend, identified by police as one Digvijay Singh “helped Khan locate” Sharma’s house on the day of the incident and “waited” in the area as Khan committed the murder. The document, filed in filed in Tis Hazari Court, further states that Singh also helped Khan escape and harboured him later.

Giving details into the motive behind the murder, police in the charge sheet said, Khan had been “forcing” Sharma to be in a relationship with him but “she had refused”.

The document mentions that Khan, after being rejected, “threatened her, followed her and planned to kill her” with a knife. He had also procured an unlicensed weapon.

The two have been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 103 (1) (murder) and 249 (a) (harbouring or concealing a person who has committed an offence punishable with death).

The charge sheet also states that Khan “deleted” phone data and chats from Sharma’s phone and they had recovered evidence that he was sending her threats.

Police said they have footage from different places including a hotel, restaurants and near Sharma’s house where the couple have met from July to August.

Police also mentioned Imran was booked in 2021 in a case under section 308 (attempted culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The charge sheet mentions he has been to a drug deaddiction centre twice this year and spoke to his doctors.

The charge sheet mentions detailed testimonies of 40 witnesses including Sharma’s family, friends, doctors, gym owner and staffers who knew the two and locals.

Police said Sharma, a fashion content creator and model who worked with bridal-wear brands and makeup artists on photoshoots and promotional campaigns. She was also pursuing graduation through Delhi University’s School of Open Learning. She is survived by her mother, two elder sisters and a younger brother.