Aaftab Poonawala, Shraddha Walkar posed as married couple: flat owner near Mumbai

Dilip Sawant, the society’s secretary, said they were informed that the couple was married as mentioned in a copy of the agreement submitted while taking the flat on rent for 11 months from October 2020 to September 2021.

The Indian Express reviewed the police no-objection certificate, which was also submitted to the society at the time: along with the couple’s photos, it had a photo of Poonawala’s father in the tenant’s column and one of another woman. Investigators believe this photo was of Walkar’s mother, police sources said.

“I think they did this to mislead us that a family was moving in…unmarried couples do not usually get flats on rent here,” Patkar, the flat-owner, said. “Initially, when they approached my agent to rent the one-bed room apartment, they claimed they were married. The agent, who has been managing this house for the past ten years, told me that a family was coming to stay in the house.”

Senior Delhi Police officers on Tuesday took Poonawala to the Mehrauli forest area to recover Shraddha’s body parts. Sources said they are also contacting common friends and Poonawala’s friends for questioning in connection with the murder. (PTI)

Patkar said, “I was told, after I started staying here when they left, that the two fought regularly. People would peep inside the house to see what was happening… The other residents told me that they even fought downstairs and created a scene on the building premises.”

Shraddha Walkar and Aaftab Poonawala faced turbulent times as their families were not in favour of their relationship, the police said. (Source: Facebook)

Sawant, however, said the society had not received any complaint in this regard. “It is only after Shraddha got murdered and the news with their photos were flashed on TV channels that we came to know they had lied about being married,” he said.

According to Patkar, Poonawala and Walkar paid Rs 7,000 in rent every month and had deposited Rs 30,000 as advance. “Despite the agreement being for 11 months, the two left the house in ten months,” she said.

According to police, Walkar used to stay with her mother, who passed away in 2020, and younger brother before she moved out to stay with Poonawala. Her parents are separated but both were opposed to her relationship with Poonawala, they said.

Poonawala and Walker initially stayed at the Kini complex in Naigaon East after which they shifted to the Regal society, police said. In September 2021, they moved to the White Hills housing complex in Nalasopara, they said.

According to Delhi Police, 28-year-old Poonawala and 27-year-old Walkar shifted this year to another flat in Delhi’s Mehrauli area. They said that Poonawala, who was arrested last Saturday, allegedly admitted to killing Walkar on May 18 in the flat, cutting her body into over 30 pieces and dumping them in a forest nearby. The police have moved to conduct a narco-analysis test on the accused to probe his claims.