Aaftab Amin Poonawala, the man accused of murdering his girlfriend Shraddha Walker, used to impersonate the victim on Instagram to deceive her friends into believing that she was alive and well. The woman, a call centre worker, was murdered in May. Poonawala continued chatting with her friends till June 9 after which he stopped. As her status remained inactive for months thereafter, her friends informed her family members.
Shraddha Walker wasn't on talking terms with her father as he was opposed to her relationship with the accused. Her mother died in 2020. According to the father's complaint, she had informed him after her mother's death that Poonawala had been beating her. She also met her father.
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The father further wrote in the complaint that he had appealed to Shraddha to leave Poonawala. However, Poonawala apologised to her and they got back together.
Upset with her decision, he stopped communicating with her.
Recently, Walkar's father came to know that they had broken up.
When he couldn't contact her daughter, he filed a missing person report.
Also read: Fight over marriage, suspected affair: What happened on May 18, night of Shraddha’s murder in Delhi?
The Mumbai Police traced her last location to Delhi and contacted Poonawala who made several contradictory statements, reports PTI.
At the time of the investigation, Poonawala had been working in a call centre in Gurugram and was dating another woman.
According to the police, Poonawala and Walker had an altercation on May 18 after which he strangled her. The next day, he purchased a refrigerator and stored her chopped body for several weeks.
He would throw the body out piece by piece.
To suppress the foul smell emanating from the body, he used incense and room freshener.
Poonawala had met each other on an online dating app. They later worked in the same call centre in Mumbai. Since they were from different faiths, their families were opposed to their relationship.
