"Else, Aftab Will Be Born In Every City": BJP Leader's Pitch For PM Modi

The horrific murder of 26-year-old Shraddha Walkar has made it to the Gujarat election campaign with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma warning the audience at a rally in Kutch that if there was no strong leader in the country, Aftab (Ameen Poonawala) would be born in every city, and we would not be able to protect our society.

Mr Sarma was batting for PM Modi, stressing that the country needs to give him a third term at the Centre, when he recounted the grisly details of the murder case and termed it "love jihad" --  a conspiracy theory accusing Muslim men of wooing Hindu women to force them to convert to Islam.

"Aftab brought Shraddha behen (sister) from Mumbai and cut her up into 35 pieces in the name of love jihad. And where did he keep the dead body? In the fridge. And while the body was in the fridge, he brought another woman home and started dating her," Mr Sarma said, adding, "if the country doesn't have a powerful leader, one who considers the nation their mother, such Aftab will be born in every city, and we would not be able to protect our society".

"So, it is very important that Narendra Modi be made the PM again, for the third time, in 2024," he said. 

Shraddha, 26, and Aftab, 28, both call centre employees, had moved to Delhi in May and four days later, following an argument over expenses and infidelity, he strangled her to death, later chopping up the body into 35 pieces that he kept in a fridge and disposed of in a jungle over 18 days, police have said.

The crime was revealed over the past month as her father - who hadn't spoken to her since May 2021 as he didn't approve of her inter-faith (Hindu-Muslim) relationship with Aftab - went to the police as her friends alerted him that she'd been out of touch with them, too, for months.

Aftab is under police custody and will take a narco analysis test within five days. 

The Delhi Police had sought the narco test of the 28-year-old, who was produced virtually, with investigators probing the case saying it was necessary since he was changing his statements and not cooperating in the probe into the brutal killing.