Mumbai: A 56-year-old Mumbai man was arrested Wednesday night, caught in the act of disposing of his live-in partner’s dismembered body after allegedly murdering her.
Manoj Sane, now in police custody till 16 June, brutally murdered Saraswati Vaidya, 32, two to three days ago, the police said.
Sane diced up her body with two cutters in an attempt to hide the murder. He boiled chunks of flesh in a cooker and stuffed them into plastic bags, while other parts were stored in buckets.
This is the second gruesome killing of a woman in a fortnight in the Thane area. Last week, a woman’s headless body was found near Uttan Beach.
Deputy Commissioner Jayant Bajbale said the couple’s neighbours alerted cops about a foul smell coming out of their seventh-floor flat in the apartment on Mumbai’s Mira Road. The body parts have been sent to the J.J. Hospital, he said.
Cops said a special team of doctors would examine the dismembered flesh and let the police know which body parts were missing.
How it came to light
According to the first information report (FIR), the residents of Geeta Aakashdeep Cooperative Housing Society called the cops around 7 pm Wednesday complaining of a foul smell emanating from flat number 704.
A team from the Naya Nagar police station visited the building, broke open the flat and found the decomposed body of the woman, stored in pieces in utensils and buckets. The FIR states some of her body pieces were boiled in a pressure cooker kept near the gas, while some more were kept in buckets and utensils.
A preliminary inquiry revealed that Vaidya, an orphan, had lived with Manoj Sane in the flat since 2014. Bajbale said: “Further investigation will reveal the motive behind this murder.”
The FIR charges Sane with Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.
What a neighbour said
A neighbor said the couple largely kept to themselves, and had hardly interacted with them. Neither did they come out in festivals, he said. “I didn’t even know his name,” the neighbour said, who first suspected foul play from the odour.
The stench wafted out on Monday and neighbours searched for a dead rat. “We didn’t doubt it was them… Their door too was locked as usual. The smell was unbearable on Wednesday. After I came back from the office, I knocked on their door. Somebody was inside but didn’t open,” he added.
The neighbour was sure something was wrong when he heard room freshener being sprayed inside the flat after they knocked a second time. “I stood in front of their door for five to ten minutes. In 15 to 20 minutes, Sane came down with a bag and asked me what was wrong. I told him if I could check his home and determine the cause of that awful smell. But he was in a hurry to go out and said he would come back by 10.30 pm. He was stinking too,” the neighbour said.
Without waiting for Sane to return, the society then called the police.
#WATCH | 32-year-old woman killed by her 56-year-old live-in partner in Thane, Maharashtra | Neighbour of the accused Manoj Sane says, "He kept it only to himself and didn't mingle with the others. I didn't even know his name…A foul smell – like that of a dead rat – started… pic.twitter.com/OruAR1yHBO
— ANI (@ANI) June 8, 2023
Women’s body writes to state DGP
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has written to the Director General of Police, Maharashtra to take strict action against the accused and to conduct a fair and time-bound investigation. The Commission also sought a detailed “action-taken” report from police within four days.
NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said Thursday that such cases have increased in recent times. “We have taken suo moto on this too and are writing to the DG to take care of this case… I have seen that people are now taking clues from past incidents which are very gruesome, which are heinous. And these kinds of crimes against live-in partners have increased in the recent past. Society needs to think about how to control it, especially the families of both. How are we raising our children who are committing such crimes?” Sharma said.
Vaidya’s murder bears uncanny resemblance to the murder of Maharashtra girl Shraddha Walkar who was similarly killed and dismembered by her accused boyfriend Aftab Poonawala.
The alleged murder took place on 18 May, 2022 in the couple’s Delhi flat in Chhatarpur. The murder came to light only in November, months after Walkar’s body parts were strewn in nearby forested areas.
Also read: Aftab was angry at Shraddha Walkar for meeting man on dating platform, says chargesheet