Just a day before she was killed, allegedly by her live-in partner Hardik Shah in Nalasopara near Mumbai, Megha Torbi called her aunt in Karnataka's Gulbarga saying that she would be transferring some money to her mother's bank account.
"At the time, she told me that Hardik had fought with her and beaten her up badly," Sandhya Torbi, her aunt, recalled to The Quint.
That was also the last time Sandhya would ever speak to Megha. On 13 February, Hardik allegedly strangulated Megha with a towel and hid her body in their bed box.
"Megha had told me that he had smashed her mobile. So then I called Hardik's mobile. He told me that he was outside and would call back once he reaches home. I never knew that he had already killed her and that he was lying."
Megha, who was a nurse, is survived by her ailing mother, sister, and five brothers – all of whom live in Gulbarga. As the eldest sibling, she was the sole bread earner until a few years ago.
A Web of Lies
According to Sandhya, Hardik called her back 10:00 pm on 13 February and told her that Megha had left home in a rage after the fight.
"He even threatened me and my family with dire consequences if anything happened to Megha. I was so scared. I made so many calls to Hardik till 2.30 am on 14 February just to find out if Megha had returned. He even took Rs 500 rupees from me to repair Megha's phone – so that he could get the contact number of her friends."
"He then called me at 4:00 am informing me that Megha had come back and was sleeping. But I felt that something was off."
On 14 February, around 4 pm, Hardik sent a message to Megha's cousin and Sandhya's daughter Kanchi, saying that he had "killed her, and was going to take his own life."
She then called real estate agent Sanjeev Thakkur, who informed the cops and discovered Megha's body in the bed box, Kanchi told The Quint.
'Wanted To File A Case Against Him, but Megha Stopped Us'
"He was abusive towards her. We wanted to file a police complaint against him, but she stopped us," Sandhya told The Quint.
"Hardik depended on Megha for his day-to-day survival. She took great care of him, but despite that, he used to hit her. She used to bear everything but refused to leave him. At times, he even stabbed her on her hands and thighs with sharp objects like pen or screw driver. He banged her head against the wall once. We have seen her with a black eye after their fights."
Sandhya added that Megha was worried that society would not be kind to her if she left him. "But at the same time, she loved him so much that she couldn't live without him," her aunt said.
'She Took Loan To Give Him Money'
Megha was working at Bina Nursing Bureau and stayed in the hostel provided by them. However, during the first COVID-19 lockdown, both Megha and Hardik came to stay with her family in Gulbarga.
"She did not like Mumbai. Before the pandemic, she worked for a year in Mumbai and came back to Gulbarga. She decided to take up a job here and stay on."
But two days after they arrived in Gulbarga, a massive fight broke out between the couple.
"They used to fight a lot, and the fights were always about money," Jayant Torbi, Megha's brother, told The Quint.
"Hardik wanted Rs 3 lakh and forced Megha to give him the money. She had taken a loan from her friends and family to give it to him. Later, she worked hard to repay the loan. This became the reason for more fights. Megha had asked Hardik to return the money but he refused. She asked him to take up a job but he refused to do that also," Jayant said.
"This is when we wanted to file a case against him, but Megha stopped us. Two days after he ran away leaving Megha behind, she also left for Mumbai," the brother added.
Hardik Shah is currently in the custody of Mumbai Police until 21 February.
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