A friend of Shraddha Walker, who was brutally murdered by her partner in Delhi this year in May, said he helped her file a police complaint against Aftab Amin Poonawala.
Shraddha Walker had written the complaint to the police in November 2020 after Aftab beat her in a flat they shared, and said her family knew about his violent behaviour. The police are now verifying this claim and any action taken by the Vasai policemen. Aftab's parents are in Delhi to record statements, as is one of her co-workers, Karan, whom she told about the assault.
Written complaint to police
In 2020 after she approached the police about being beaten up by Aftab. Rahul, Shraddha Walker's friend said that she took Shraddha home. After filing the FIR, the police officer suggested arresting Aftab, but she denied saying that “those things happen in a relationship”.
Shraddha met Aftab, who also lived in Vasai, through the dating app Bumble in 2019. Her family did not approve of the relationship, so she left her family to live with Aftab, first in Mumbai and from May 2022 in Delhi.
“Shraddha started living with Aftab in 2019,” said his friend Laxman Nadar, with whom she had kept in touch. "Shraddha wanted to marry him, but her mother was against her, so she left."
Her mother was the only one in the family who still spoke to Shraddha after she left home, Laxman said. After her death in 2020, Shraddha's only contact with her family was with Laxman. Until she moved to Delhi and also stopped contact with her friend. However, Shraddha's father followed his daughter on Instagram.
On January 1, 2020, Shraddha's mother Suman passed away. About 20 days after her death, Shraddha called her father a couple of times. She informed him that Aftab had physically assaulted her. A month later she met Vikas and said the same about Aftab. He asked her to leave Aftab and return home. However, Aftab apologized to her and she returned.
The letter reads as
"The letter reads "I Miss Shraddha Walkar age 25, would like to report Aftab Amin Poonawaal, age 26, Phone No (No mentioned here in story) who currently lives at B-302, regal apartment, Vijay Vihar Complex near ARC Bhavan, has been abusing me and been beating me up.
Today he tried to kill me by suffocating me and he scares me and blackmails me that he will kill me, cut me up in pieces and throw me away. It's been six months he has been hitting me but I did not have the guts to go to the police because he would threaten to kill me.
The letter further reads "It been 6 months he has been hitting me but I did not have the guts to go to the police because he would threaten to kill me. His parents are aware that he beats me and that he tried to kill me".
"They also know about we living together and they visit on weekends. I lived with him till date as we were supposed to get married anytime soon and had the blessing of his family, hence I am not willing to live with him so any kind of physical damage should be considered coming from him as he has been blackmailing me to fill me or hurt me whenever he sees me anywhere.
How the matter came to light after 6 months
According to the FIR, Shraddha told her mother that Aftab used to beat her. When there was no contact with Shraddha for the past two months, her friend informed Shraddha's brother about it. After which her father filed a missing report for Shraddha in Mumbai.
In the Mumbai Police investigation, Shraddha's last location was found in the Mehrauli area of Delhi. The matter reached the Delhi Police and in the investigation the needle of suspicion reached Aftab. In this way, this matter could come to light after six months of the murder.
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