‘She couldn’t scream for help as she was gagged and bound’

Jaspal Khan’s neighbours at Railway sankalp transit camp in Mankhurd said they did not realise she had been set ablaze as her boyfriend, Aftab Khan, had gagged her and tied up her hands, because of which she could not scream or make a noise.

Jaspal Khan’s neighbours at railway sankalp transit camp in Mankhurd said they did not realise she had been set ablaze as her boyfriend, Aftab Khan, had gagged her and tied up her hands, because of which she could not scream or make a noise.

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“I saw smoke coming out of her shanty so I told my mother. When we banged on her door, the man opened the door after a while. Aunty’s mouth was covered with a piece of cloth and her hands were tied,” said Muskaan Shaikh, a teenager who lives in the neighbourhood.

Like Muskaan, other neighbours too maintained that they did not hear any screams.

“I did not hear anything. We suspected something was wrong only when smoke started coming out of her home,” said a neighbour who did not wish to be identified.

Residents said that over the past few days the couple had fought frequently.

“On December 31, Aftab hit her and broke her mobile phone. She had bruises on her back. I had advised her to stay away from him,” said Tahira Asif Shaikh, another neighbour.

“I saw smoke coming out of her house. When Aftab opened the door, we saw she had burns all over her body. He then wrapped her in a shawl and took her to hospital in an auto.”

Neighbours said Aftab was a frequent visitor at Jaspal’s home.

“They used to spend a lot of time together. But they had been fighting a lot since the past few days. We would hear Jaspal’s cries when Aftab hit her,” said another resident.

The police said they would record the statements of witnesses to make a watertight case.

“The statement given by the neighbours will corroborate the crime,” said Shankarsingh Rajput, senior police inspector at Mankhurd police station.