Shraddha murder case: Friends say lot of fights, beatings and anger in her relationship with Aftab

Palghar, Nov 15: A day after the gory and chilling details of the Shraddha Walker murder case became public, her friends are now reportedly saying that her boyfriend and live-in partner, accused for her murder, would often beat her up and she wanted to end the relationship.

Her live-in partner Aftab was caught by Delhi Police on Saturday after deceased Shraddha's father filed a police complaint.

Shraddha's friends in Maharashtra's Palghar said that the couple were happy in the beginning, however, things deteriorated between them and there were times when she wanted to break the relationship.

One of her friends, Rajat Shukla told ANI, "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 also added, "it had become very difficult for her to come out of that relationship, adding that her life had become 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," Rajat added.

Another friend of Shraddha, Laxman Nadir, talked about the circumstances under which they approached the police.

"She had contacted me two months ago. She had not replied to any of my texts since August. Her phone was switched off. That is when I told her brother that I had spoken to her for the last time in July. So it's better if we reach out to the police and seek their help," Laxman said.

Laxman said that the couple used to have a lot of fights and the fight had once escalated to such extremes that they were once ready to approach the police.

"They used to have a lot of fights. There was a fight to such an extent that she texted me on WhatsApp and asked me to take her somewhere that night. She said that if she lived with Aftab that night, he would kill her. We, friends, had taken her out of her house that night and also had warned Aftab that we would approach the police. But respecting Shraddha's sentiments we said that we would not approach the police because she told us not to do so," ANI reported Laxman as Saying.

The background:

In the Shraddha murder case, the Delhi Police arrested Aftab Ameen Poonawalla for allegedly strangling his live-in partner and chopping her body into 35 pieces before disposing it of.

The police said that he had a fight with Shraddha on May 18. He then chopped her body in 35 pieces and bought a fridge to keep it.

For disposing of her body parts, the alleged left his house at 2 am over the next 18 days to dispose of the pieces at various locations around Delhi.

Shraddha was working for a call centre in a multi-national company in Mumbai when she met Poonawalla. They began dating and moved in together. After her family did not approve of their relationship, the couple eloped to Delhi and lived in a flat in Mehrauli.

Shraddha had stopped responding to calls following which her father Vikas Madaan came to Delhi in search of her. He approached the police and filed a complaint alleging that his daughter had been kidnapped.

The police on the basis of the complaint arrested Poonawalla and investigations revealed that the two fought frequently as Shraddha wanted to marry him. The police have filed a case of murder and looking for Shraddha's body.