News Brief
Interfaith Love: Shraddha Eloped With Aaftab, Killed And Chopped Into 35 Pieces
Aaftab Ameen Poonawalla and Shraddha Madaan
The Delhi police have arrested a man identified as Aaftab Ameen Poonawalla for murdering his live-in partner named Shraddha Madaan.
Aaftab carried out the murder in May, chopped the body into scores of pieces and stored them in his refrigerator till he gradually disposed of all the pieces.
The murder came to light only this week after Shraddha’s father began making inquiries about her as her family had not heard from her for months.
This case is yet another addition to a series of case where Muslim men trap non-Muslim women in relationships for purposes of conversion or sexual exploitation, often murdering them if they resist.
Various religious groups affiliated to Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and Hindus have termed this pattern of preying as ‘love jihad’.
Murder carried out on 18 May
As per various reports, the police, after arresting Aaftab, presented him before the magistrate on Monday from where he was sent to five-day judicial custody.
The confession by Aaftab, reported widely in the media quoting police, appears to be like a plot straight out of a gory crime thriller.
On May 18, Aaftab strangled Shraddha to death following a spat. He then chopped her body into 35 pieces and bought a refrigerator to store those. He also used light incense sticks to keep the stench away.
Every night, he would go out after midnight to throw some pieces in a jungle. After realising that the animals were not eating the flesh, Aaftab started disposing of Shraddha's body pieces at different locations in and around Delhi during the night for the next 18 days.
The relationship between Aaftab and Shraddha
Shraddha, a resident of Maharashtra’s Palghar, used to work at a call center in Mumbai, where she met Aaftab. When they entered into a relationship, her parents disapproved of it.
Shraddha walked out on her parents and left Mumbai to live-in with Aaftab in New Delhi. The couple rented an accommodation in south Delhi’s Mehrauli.
The police told the media that as per Aaftab’s confession, Shraddha was pressuring her to marry her and that is why he killed her. As per this report, Aaftab’s initially maintained was that Shraddha had left him.
On May 18, the couple had a fight, and Aaftab strangled her in a fit of rage.
How the truth came out
Shraddha’s father Vikas Madaan approached Mehrauli police last week with the complaint that his daughter had gone missing.
Shraddha’s family had lost contact with her in May. Recently, they began looking for her and tried to reach her through her friends. They found her social media account.
When they found that the account had no new post after mid-May, her father came to Delhi and reached the rented apartment where Shraddha lived with Aaftab. He found it locked.
Police investigations revealed she had been murdered, and the murder was executed by Aaftab.
The Mehrauli police have not made any official statement so far, and only unnamed officers have been quoted in media reports.
Swarajya tried contacting the police station for an official statement, but the police officer who picked up the call declined to share any details saying he was not authorised to speak to the media.
Aaftab reportedely runs a food blog account 'Hungry Chokro' on Instagram where he regularly uploads food videos and photographs.
Shraddha’s Instagram account by the name ‘That Rebel Girl’ shows the date of her last post as 11 May, seven days before her killing.
Swarajya has reported a large number of cases of a similar nature. Here is a list of such cases.
