'A case of opposites attract...': Friends reveal why Shraddha didn't quit toxic and abusive relationship with Aaftab

Shraddha Walkar, the 27-year-old woman who was murdered and cut into pieces 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. Shraddha’s friends on Tuesday revealed that she wanted to quit the relationship since her life had “become like hell” with Aaftab. 

Lashman Nadar, a common friend of Shraddha and Aaftab, was called for questioning by the Delhi Police. Another friend Rajat Shukla said the couple was initially happy, but later Aaftab started beating Shraddha. 

Speaking to ANI on Monday, Rajat Shukla, her friend, said, "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 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 said that it had become "very difficult" for her to come out of that relationship, adding that "her life had become like 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," he added.

Nadar, who was also the one to inform Shraddha’s father in September that she is missing, said revealed that Shraddha had reached out to him and asked him to rescue her from the couple’s apartment in Delhi’s Chhatarpur area. “Once she contacted me on WhatsApp and asked to rescue her from her residence. She said that if she stayed with him (Aaftab) that night, he would kill her," he told India Today.

Nadar also claimed that him and other friends came quite close to informing the Police, but keeping Shraddha’s commitment to Aaftab in mind, refrained from doing so. Later, Nadar said he started worrying about Shraddha after she stopped contacting him for two months.

According to Nadar, the couple’s families were against their relationship, ever since Aaftab and Shraddha lived together in a rented accommodation in Naigon East for nearly two years.

According to a report by The Indian Express, Shraddha continued their relationship as he emotionally blackmailed her and said he would die by suicide if she leaves him. 

Days before she was murdered in May this year, Shraddha told a close friend over the phone that they have “almost broken up” and she is finding a new place for herself in Delhi, according to the report. 

“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,” The Indian Express quoted the friend as saying. 

Poonawala and Walkar had met each other through an online dating application. Later, they started working for the same call centre in Mumbai and fell in love. But their families objected to the relationship as they belong to different faiths, prompting the couple to move to Mehrauli earlier this year, the officials said.

"Around mid-May, the couple had an argument over marriage, which escalated and Poonawala killed her," Ankit Chauhan, Additional DCP-I, South district, had said.

"The accused then cut her body into over 35 pieces. He bought a 300-litre fridge to preserve the body parts and stocked up on incense sticks and room fresheners. He disposed of the pieces in different parts of the city over several days. He used to step out past midnight to dump the severed body parts," he added.

The complaint by the victim's father also alleged that Poonawala used to beat Walkar on several occasions and that she had informed her family about it earlier.