Vikas Walkar, the father of Shraddha Walkar whose brutal murder by her live-in partner in 2022 had caused a nationwide sensation, died on Sunday at his residence in Vasai city of Maharashtra라이브 바카라 Palghar district, police said.
A police official said that Vikas Walkar was found motionless by his family members in the morning, following which he was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead, PTI reported.
The preliminary investigation suggests cardiac arrest caused the death.
A postmortem report is awaited in the case.
Shraddha Walkar, 26, was allegedly killed by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala, 28, in 2022 at their house in South Delhi's Mehrauli area.
Aaftab allegedly killed Shraddha on May 18, 2022, and chopped her body into 35 pieces and stuffed the severed parts into a refrigerator before scattering those at multiple places in the national capital over several days to avoid detection.
Both Shraddha and Aaftab came from Maharashtra's Vasai region in Palghar district. They first moved to Mumbai and then to Delhi as Shraddha's family was opposed to her inter-faith relationship with Aaftab. They met on the dating platform Bumble.
The Delhi Police arrested Aaftab on November 12. The case came to Delhi when Shraddha's father filed a police complaint.
It was later reported that Aaftab had an abusive history and Shraddha had filed a complaint against him in Palghar as well.
Shraddha had filed a complaint at the Tulinj Police Station in Palghar and said that Aaftab had beaten her and threatened to kill her. This had been going on for six months at the time, according to a report, which added that the complaint was later dissolved.
DCP Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar Suhas Bavache said that Shraddha in her written statement had stated that “the dispute between herself and Aaftab Poonawala was resolved”, according to ANI.
The Delhi Police filed a 6,629-page chargesheet in the case on January 24, 2023.
(With PTI inputs)
