Shraddha Walkar, who was killed by her live-in partner, Aaftab Ameen Poonawala, in May, reportedly saw Dr. Pranav Kabra a month prior to the murder for help with anger management and violence issues.
The doctor claimed that Shraddha called him on the phone in February 2021 to discuss her live-in partner’s concerns with depression, aggression, and anger management.
Shraddha Walkar called Dr. Pranav, whose clinic is adjacent to the call centre where she formerly worked, and stated she had been suggested by Shreha Dhargalkar, a social worker.
“Since I had heard about Dhargalkar and her social work, I got the phone call and spoke to the patient. Normally, we do not answer calls of unknown patients or first time patients and request them to first visit the hospital and prepare their case papers,” Dr Kabra said.
“She asked me about her depression problems and about anger management and the violence issues of her boyfriend. I told her we do not consult or diagnose first-time patients on the phone, but since there was a COVID threat, she said she would not be able to visit the hospital personally. Further, Raksha Hospital was a designated COVID hospital at the time, and I told her we need to do a psychiatric evaluation and psychological tests for both – her boyfriend and herself,” he said.
“She was hesitant to come to the hospital for various reasons, but told me on the phone that her boyfriend Aaaftab got very violent even for minor reasons or small fights or misunderstandings between them, and she was worried that he might harm her or himself or both of them in one of his terrible anger bouts,” Dr Kabra said, adding that Walkar said her boyfriend was behaving very weirdly in the last few weeks and was always on the phone.
The physician advised Shraddha to make an appointment with him as soon as possible and to speak with a counsellor about the problems in the interim.
“I suggested she and her boyfriend do yoga and other deep breathing exercises and try to visit me personally as soon as possible. I also suggested she meet a counsellor and discuss the issue. However, she never came to visit me,” he added.