Shraddha informed her friends, including Shukla, that she was moving to Delhi with Aftab for work.
Shraddha Walkar's friend Rajat Shukla describes her as a theatre enthusiast who loved to act and had “a lot of spark” in her personality.
“Shraddha and I met in college. We both wanted to be journalists so we often studied together. We were theatre enthusiasts. We acted together in several theatre productions,” says Mr Shukla.
But all that changed when she met Aftab, he says. “She became dull. Soon after she told me about their relationship. When I met him, he appeared normal to me. They said they were planning on moving in together,” he added.
Shraddha informed her friends, including Shukla, that she was moving to Delhi with Aftab. “She said they had decided to move to Delhi for work. We lost contact with her after she moved.”
On Tuesday, the Delhi police arrested 28-year-old Aftab Amin Poonawala for allegedly murdering the Mumbai woman six month ago, chopping her body into 35 pieces and disposing of them at different places in and around the national capital.
Shraddha had told her friends and parents that Aftab frequently beat her when the two fought over marriage.
“We tried to bring her back home safely. Unfortunately, all we got back was the news of her brutal murder,” Mr Shukla says.
“This cannot be a love story. Love stories don't end like that. Investigators need to find out who he is and what he was thinking when he did this. I hope for justice for Shraddha,” he adds.