Shraddha murder: Case closed in 2020 after she withdrew complaint, says Maharashtra Police

Palghar (Maharashtra) [India], November 23 : Maharashtra Police on Wednesday said 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."
"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 there is no dispute. Her friend's parents also cajoled her to resolve the dispute. She gave the written statement and after that the case was closed," said Bawche.
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.
The Maharashtra Police said that in the year 2020, Shraddha had made a complaint at the Tulinj Police Station in Maharashtra's Palghar, in which she stated that Aaftab Poonawala, had beaten her and threatened to kill her.
The Maharashtra police have confirmed that the deceased had written a complaint letter on November 23, 2020 to the Tulinj police station.
In the complaint letter, Shraddha said that she "did not have the guts to go to the police" because Aaftab had threatened to kill her. However, she added that Aaftab tried to kill her on the day she was writing the letter, and he also threatened to cut her into pieces and throw her away.
"It's been six months he has been hitting me," the letter read.
The letter further claimed that Aaftab's parents were aware that he beat her up and that he attempted to kill her.
"I lived with him till date as we were supposed to get married anytime soon and had the blessings 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," Shraddha's complaint alleged.
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.