Delhi Murder: Shraddha Walkar stopped her school friend from informing police about Aaftab's abusive behaviour

Shraddha Walkar, who was killed and chopped into pieces by live-in partner Aftab Amin Poonawalla in Delhi, had reached out to her school friend Laxman Nadar for help when a dispute had broken out between the couple when they were still residing in Vasai. Mr Nadar told The Free Press Journal that Ms Walkar was scared and wanted to be “taken away”, but when he tried to help her and warned Mr Poonawalla he would call the police, she had stopped him.

Meanwhile, police sources said the suspect had travelled to Vasai 15 days ago to help his family shift to Mumbai. Their neighbours said they were surprised by the move as the family had been residing there since 2004. When asked, the family said they conduct their business in Mumbai and the distance was not manageable.

The police also said they are searching for Ms Walkar’s phone which was thrown away by the suspect “somewhere in Maharashtra”. As per the police probe, the last location of the mobile was in Delhi. An officer said the mobile cannot be traced if it is switched off.

He added that the suspect may have thrown it away during his recent visit to Vasai. Even after the mobile phone was switched off, the suspect had kept up the pretence of Ms Walkar being alive by chatting with her friends on Instagram. This had rung an alarm for Mr Nadar, who then contacted Ms Walkar’s brother Shreejay in Vasai.

Domestic violence in relationship

The other details that have emerged from the first information report (FIR) accessed by The Journal reveal a sordid tale of domestic violence that Ms Walkar had reported to her mother in January this year.

Her parents had then discouraged her from continuing to live with her boyfriend. But this had only strained Ms Walkar’s relationship with her father, Vikas Madan Walkar. However, after her mother died, Ms Walkar contacted her father twice about being in an abusive relationship. Mr Walkar once again asked her to leave her boyfriend and come home, but she chose to stay on after he apologised.

Father files FIR after failing to get in touch with Shraddha

According to the FIR, after Mr Nadar failed to contact Ms Walkar on phone, he reached out to her family following which her father registered a missing person’s report at the Manikpur police station, which was later transferred to the Mehrauli police station. Investigating officer Sachin Sanap attributed the transfer of the complaint to the fact that the victim was residing in Delhi atthe time of being reported missing.