Shraddha Walkar (27), a Vasai resident, who was murdered allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala (28) in Delhi, wanted to break up with him because he “mentally tortured her and physically assaulted her several times”, but she continued their relationship as he emotionally blackmailed her and said he would die by suicide if she leaves him, her close friends told The Indian Express.
Sometime before Shraddha was murdered in May this year in Delhi, she told a close friend over the phone that they have “almost broken up” and she is finding a new place for herself in Delhi.
Accused Aaftab Poonawala
A friend of hers told The Indian Express, “They were in a live-in relationship since 2019 but it was a very turbulent one, and he assaulted her many times. Their natures were completely different; it was a case of opposites attract. Finally they decided to give it a last shot and went to Himachal Pradesh this year for a trip. Even there, they were having fights and Shraddha had told us she had decided to break up and their relationship was nearing an end. After the Himachal Pradesh trip, they decided to spend some time in Delhi and I think she was waiting for May 16, which was their anniversary.”
As per local Manikpur police in Vasai, Shraddha, a Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM) graduate, was working in a call centre in Malad and met Aaftab through Bumble, a dating app, in 2019.
Shraddha was a resident of Vasai and used to stay with her mother, who passed away in 2020, and younger brother. Her father did not stay with them. In October 2019, she left her home and moved in with Aaftab. The two are said to have stayed together in Naigaon and then Vasai for some time.
The accused used agarbatti, dhoop, potpourri, room fresheners to mask the stench. (Express Photo by Jignasa Sinha)
Aaftab, also a Vasai resident, was a chef who turned photographer and then a food vlogger. He also worked in a call centre and then for an IT company. He stayed with his parents.
In October 2019, the couple decided to get into a live-in relationship after her parents objected to their relationship, and the two moved to a house in Naigaon. Shraddha visited her family once in early 2020, when her mother died due to a heart ailment.
In 2020, Shraddha called up a friend and told her she had allegedly been assaulted by Aaftab.
“She informed us she will be filing a police complaint. But he used to emotionally blackmail her. I saw her covered in bruises multiple times,” said her friend.
Shraddha Walkar
In 2021, he allegedly assaulted her again, and her friends had to come to her rescue.
“Sometime in June or July, she texted me and we went to rescue her. I saw bruises on her neck, upper chest and her nose was bruised too. Even back then, we had warned him that we would file a police complaint. For two days she stayed at a friend’s house but on the third day, god knows how he convinced her, she went back to stay with him. He had too much influence on her. She told us that Aaftab told her he will commit suicide and she believed he would, so she did not go to the police and stayed with him.”
Shraddha used to communicate with her friends over the phone but all communications stopped towards May-end. On May 14, she told a female friend, “He is repeating the same and now I’m going to leave him.”
The single-room apartment is located on the first floor in a congested lane in Chhattarpur Pahadi. (Express Photo by Jignasa Sinha)
Her friends waited for two months thinking she was recovering from the break-up, but when she did not respond to their messages, they started looking for her, and in September told her father that they were not able to contact her. After being told by her friends, her father approached the Vasai police, who transferred the complaint to Manikpur police. The Manikpur police contacted Delhi Police, and they arrested Aaftab.
Shraddha Walkar was killed by her boyfriend Aftab Poonawala. 
Accused Aaftab Poonawala
The accused used agarbatti, dhoop, potpourri, room fresheners to mask the stench. (Express Photo by Jignasa Sinha)
Shraddha Walkar
The single-room apartment is located on the first floor in a congested lane in Chhattarpur Pahadi. (Express Photo by Jignasa Sinha)
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