After facing criticism for showing Aftab as Hindu, Sony deletes 'Crime Patrol' episode of Shraddha Walkar

New Delhi, Jan 02: Sony Entertainment Television which reportedly aired Shraddha Walkar's murder case on its crime anthology series 'Crime Patrol' has now been deleted from the SonyLIV app. The recap episode from YouTube was also removed.

According to reports, Sony was facing criticism on social media for allegedly distorting the facts while changing the identities of both the victim and accused.

In the said episode of 'Crime Patrol' that was aired last week, the accused a Muslim man was named as Mihir and not Aftab poonawala. Whereas the name of the victim as Anna Fernandes, a Christian girl. The duo, who were originally in a live-in relationship, was also seen marrying at a temple in the episode.

The episode further showed the couple were based out of Pune, even though Aftab and Shraddha were based out of Delhi, Surprisingly, it also projected Mihir's mother as a devout Hindu, indicating that the accused was a Hindu. However, Aftab was a devout Muslim.

The episode was numbered 212 and titled Ahmedabad -Pune under Crime Patrol 2.0. The episode resulted in an uproar on social media; netizens had trended #BoycottSonyTV on Twitter. However, after facing the extreme backlash, the episode now stands deleted.

Taking to micro-blogging Twitter, a user wrote,''It seems @SonyLIV deleted #CrimePatrol 2.0 in which #ShraddhaWalkar murder case was twisted to show Hindu man Mihir killed his Christian live-in partner.It had fired up digital world n @GemsOfBollywood had led the strike! #Hindumisia growing in Bharat!.''

It seems @SonyLIV deleted #CrimePatrol 2.0 in which #ShraddhaWalkar murder case was twisted to show Hindu man Mihir killed his Christian live-in partner.
It had fired up digital world n @GemsOfBollywood had led the strike! #Hindumisia growing in Bharat!https://t.co/v1oQD9OExp

— Legal Rights Observatory- LRO (@LegalLro) January 2, 2023

Gems of Bollywood, which has over three lakh followers on Twitter, that claims to be a movie review website had on December 30 tweeted,"Murderer Aftab becomes Mihir. Victim Shraddha becomes Anna. LJ criminal becomes Yoga Teacher. And topiwala becomes primary informer who helps police. Crime Patrol on Sony LIV."

Murderer Aftab becomes Mihir. Victim Shraddha becomes Anna.
LJ criminal becomes Yoga Teacher.
And topiwala becomes primary informer who helps police.

Crime Patrol on @SonyLIV

Hindustan me jab tak Sanima hai, log https://t.co/92iS3zaQda

— Gems of Bollywood बॉलीवुड के रत्न (@GemsOfBollywood) December 30, 2022

A love story doomed from the start

Aftab and Shraddha met through a dating app Bumble in 2019 and later moved in together at a rented accommodation in Chhatarpur. Her parents were against the inter-faith relationship and had stopped talking to her after she decided to move to Delhi with him.

Poonawala allegedly strangled Shraddha and chopped off her body into 17-18 peices which he kept in a 300-litre refrigerator for almost three weeks at his residence in South Delhi's Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days.

The police said that the couple would fight regularly over issues such as marriage and who would bear the household expenses. On May 18, he strangled her to death and then set out to buy a knife and fridge. Following a missing person's complaint filed by Shraddha's father on November 10 as her daughter was untraceable for over two months. An FIR was registered against the attackers under Sections 186, 353, 147, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Prashant Vihar Police Station in connection with the case.

Aftab was arrested on November 12 and sent to five-day police custody, which was further extended by five days on November 17. On November 22, he was sent to police custody for four days. The court in Delhi on December 23, sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.