Palghar (Maharashtra) : Friends of Shraddha Walker, the girl from Maharashtra who was allegedly killed by her live-in partner Aftab Amin Poonawalla in Delhi, said that the girl wanted to leave him but could not do so. The versions from her friends in Maharashtra not only reveals the inner side of their relationship but also exposes the violent nature of the youth who, according to her friends, used to beat her often. Aftab was caught by Delhi Police on Saturday, on the basis of the deceased's father's complaint.
Shraddha's friends who were from Maharashtra's Palghar said that initially, the couple lived happily, but things deteriorated between them and she wanted to break the relationship. Speaking to Etv Bharat Rajat Shukla, her friend, said, "Today suddenly the news flashed on the mobile of her murder. I was shaken to the core of my soul that my friend has been murdered. She had told us in 2019 that she was in a relationship since 2018. They lived together. Initially, they lived happily, but then Sharddha started saying that Aftab beats her. She wanted to leave him but couldn't do so."
Rajat said that it had become very difficult for her to come out of that relationship, adding that her life had become like hell. While shifting to Delhi, the decision was taken with their mutual consent that they would do a job there. After shifting to Delhi, our contact with her nearly broke, he added. Laxman Nadir, another friend of Shraddha from Palghar, detailed the circumstances under which they approached the police.
"She had contacted me two months ago. She did not reply to any of my texts since August. Her phone was switched off. That is when it became a point of concern and I started reaching out to the people. When I failed to get any information then I told everything to her brother. I told him that I had last spoken to him in July. I suggested the family to go to the police and seek help," Nadir said.
He said that the couple used to have a lot of fights and wanted to go to the police even but feeling that this might expose the relationship Sharaddha finally decided not to approach. Nadir even said that Shraddha had call him up to make an arrangement for night because he had the fear that Aftab might kill her.
"We arranged for a separate night-stay for her and even threatened Aftab not to misbehave with her. We warned her that we would approach the police but finally dropped down the plan because it might hurt Shraddha's reputation," he added.
Delhi police solved the six-month-old murder case and arrested a man for allegedly killing his 28-year-old live-in partner, chopping her body into 35 pieces and disposing of them at different places in and around the national capital. The 28 year old accused - a resident of Mumbai, was caught on Saturday on the basis of the deceased's father's complaint and has been sent to police remand for five days, the police said on Monday.
The duo got together via a dating app in Mumbai. They were in a live-in relationship for three years and had shifted to Delhi. Soon after they shifted to Delhi, Shraddha started pressurizing the man to marry her, Additional DCP-I South Delhi Ankit Chauhan said.
According to the police, on May 18, the man lost his temper during a quarrel and strangled her. "The accused told us that he chopped her into pieces and disposed of her parts in nearby areas in the jungle area of Chhatarpur Enclave. He has been arrested and investigation is going on," Chouhan said.
The accused allegedly chopped her body into 35 pieces and kept it in a newly purchased refrigerator. He later started disposing of the body pieces at different locations in and around Delhi during night hours for the next 18 days, said sources. In November, the victim's father Vikash Madan Walker, a resident of Palghar (Maharashtra), approached Mumbai police and lodged a missing person's complaint. During the initial investigation, the victim's last location was found in Delhi, and on the basis of this, the case was transferred to Delhi police.
The victim's father revealed his daughter's relationship with Aftab. During the investigation, it was found that Aftab and Shraddha had come to Delhi and started living in a rented apartment in Chhatterpur Pahadi area. The police during the course of the investigation, traced Aftab and nabbed him. The accused, during questioning, confessed to the crime and said that they fought often as Shraddha was pressurizing him for marriage.
A case under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of an offence committed) has been registered at Mehrauli police station, officials said. Police also recovered some bones from the accused's rented flat and officials said that the efforts to recover the remaining parts of the body were on.
