Aaftab Poonawala would beat up Shraddha Walkar and then say sorry: Brother to court

NEW DELHI: A Saket court started the trial in the murder case of Shraddha Walkar, killed allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala who chopped her body into pieces and dumped these in various places.
On Thursday, Shraddha's brother Shreejay Vikas Walkar, who deposed as a prosecution witness, told the court of additional sessions judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar that the family had tried to counsel Shraddha into leaving Aaftab, but failed. Shreejay also told the court that his sister had confided in him that Aaftab used to beat her up. Later, Aaftab used to apologise to her for the fights and physical assault and she would continue to live with him.
"After my mother's death, we tried to convince her to leave him but she did not agree," Shreejay said. He said that Shraddha left the house that she lived in with Aaftab in Mumbai after her family advised her against being in a relationship with him.
He said that his sister paid no heed to the advice of family members against Aaftab, stating that she was 25 years old and could take her own decisions. Subsequently, the family understood that she was completely under Aaftab's influence. "She said that she wanted to be in a live-in relationship with Poonawala. We tried to counsel her. She was completely under the influence of the accused. She left her house and shifted to a rented accommodation in Naigaon (Mumbai)," Shreejay said.
Around two weeks later, she left that house too.
Besides Shreejay, two other witnesses -- an auto driver and a neighbour of Shradha's - were presented before the court. The recording of their testimonies were completed on Thursday.
The court posted the matter for completion of recording the statements of Shreejay along with the cross-examination of all three witnesses on July 12.
Other prosecution witnesses will appear in court on July 17 and 18 to record their statements.
The court had framed charges against Aaftab on May 9 for offences under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence).