July 17, 2026

Why Did Shraddha Walkar Not End The Toxic Relationship With Aaftab Poonawala?

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-11-24 07:35:02

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Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

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By all accounts, Shraddha Walkar was in a toxic relationship with her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala, and he regularly beat her up and threatened to kill her. In an old (November 2020) letter of complaint which Shraddha wrote to the Tilunj police station in Vasai under the jurisdiction of the Mumbai Police has now been accessed by the media, she had said as much. But it is being reported that when the police went to investigate, at first the family did not allow her to meet them on various pretexts and later she met the investigating officer she withdrew her complaint in writing by saying that she had lodged it in a fit of anger. After that, the police had nothing much to do in the matter. Still, it is being reported that the Mumbai police is investigating what action was taken on the complaint.

It is strange and disturbing that an educated girl like Shraddha, who also had a fair degree of independence as she was employed and earning, could submit herself totally to Poonawala in such an abject manner. Maybe it was because she was afraid she had nowhere to go if Poonawala left her as she had broken all connections with her parents when she eloped with him. But still, it defies logic that a girl like Shraddha could tolerate such demonic behaviour from Poonawala for so long, in Mumbai and even when they relocated to Delhi. She must have known that there were NGOs that helped women in distress and she should have approached them. Yet she remained in that one-sided relationship and allowed Poonawala to dominate her.

The result is for all to see. He carried out his threat of killing her and chopping her body into pieces. The heartless manner in which he committed the crime also proved that maybe he never loved her. Shraddha, due to her love for him or maybe due to her fear, did not recognize it or if she did, tried to argue with herself that he would change and start loving her. But that was never to be and Shraddha paid with her life for loving and eloping with the wrong guy.