Shraddha withdrew her 'he will kill me' complaint against Aaftab in Nov 2020, clarifies Mumbai police

Maharashtra Police on Wednesday clarified that based on a complaint by Shraddha Walkar in 2020 they had begun an investigation but the case was closed after she gave a written statement to withdraw the case. DCP of Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) Commissionerate, Suhas Bavache, said that Shraddha in her written statement had stated that "the dispute between herself and Aaftab Poonawala was resolved".

The clarification came after it emerged that Walkar had two years ago complained to police in Maharashtra that her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala, who is accused of brutally murdering her, tried to kill her and she feared he would cut her into pieces and throw her away.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said an investigation will be held to ascertain why no action was taken on a letter sent by Shraddha Walkar to the police in 2020.

"Whatever necessary action had to be taken in that matter was done by police at that time. The application that was given by the complainant was also investigated. After the investigation, the complainant herself gave a written statement that the dispute was resolved. Her friend's parents also cajoled her to resolve the dispute. She gave the written statement and after that the case was closed," said Bavache, reported ANI. Aaftab has been accused of strangling to death his alleged live-in partner Shraddha and chopping her body into pieces. He is also alleged to have preserved the chopped body parts in a refrigerator before dumping them in the forests of south Delhi's Chhatarpur.

In her complaint to Tulinj police in Palghar in November 2020, Walkar alleged that, ''Poonawala has been abusing me and beating me up.'' ''Today he tied to kill me by suffocating me and he scares and blackmails me that he will kill me cut me up in pieces and throw me anyway. It's been six months he has been hitting me. But did I not have the guts to go to police because he would threaten to kill me,'' Walkar said in the complaint. ''His parents are aware that he beats me and that he tried to kill me,'' she told the police. Walkar also said in the letter that Poonawala's parents knew about them living together and they visited them on weekends. ''I lived with him till date as we were supposed to get married anytime soon and had the blessing of his family. Henceforth, 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 kill me or hurt me whenever he sees me anywhere,'' she stated in the letter. Aaftab was produced before the Saket court in the national capital on Tuesday after his five-day police custody expired. "What happened that happened in heat of the moment," Aaftab told the court.

A court-sanctioned polygraph test on Aaftab was initiated yesterday. Assistant Director of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Rohini, Sanjeev Gupta said the process of conducting a polygraph test on Aaftab has begun and the report will be out in a week's time. Delhi Police had previously said Aaftab, following his arrest in the case, confessed to killing his live-in partner Shraddha in their apartment in West Delhi's Chhatarpur and to chopping her body into 35 pieces.

Aaftab and Shraddha met on a dating site and moved in together to a rented accommodation in Chhatarpur as the relationship grew. On receipt of the complaint from Shraddha's father, Delhi Police registered an FIR on November 10.

Subsequent interrogation of the accused revealed that Aaftab killed Shraddha on May 18 after which he started researching ways to dispose of the body. He also borrowed ideas on disposal from popular crime shows on his streaming devices, Delhi Police revealed. The accused also told police that he also read up on human anatomy before chopping his girlfriend's body.

Police said after browsing on the internet on ways to remove all traces of his crime, Aaftab mopped blood stains from the floor of the couple's Chhatarpur apartment with some chemicals and also disposed of all stained clothes. He then shifted the body to the bathroom and bought a refrigerator where he hoarded the chopped body parts, police further informed.

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