‘Foul smell, pieces lying’: How Mumbai cops discovered Shraddha Walkar re-run

Mumbai's Mira Road area was shaken by a horrifying incident as a 56-year-old man allegedly murdered his 32-year-old live-in partner and dismembered her body into pieces using tree-cutter in a gruesome attempt to destroy evidence.

The police said the accused killed his live-in partner three to four days ago, following which he bought a tree-cutter to dice her body into pieces. He then boiled the parts, and stuffed them into plastic bags.

“32-year-old woman killed by 56-year-old live-in partner | As per Police, the accused Manoj Sahni killed Saraswati Vaidya 3-4 days back and after that, he purchased a tree-cutter to chop her into pieces. Police say that the accused boiled pieces of her body in a pressure cooker and later filled them into plastic bags to dispose of them. Police say that over 12-13 pieces of the woman's body were recovered from the site”, an official was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

How Mumbai cops discovered Mira Road murder

On Wednesday, the residents of J-wing in Geeta Aakashdeep Cooperative Housing Society, located in Geeta Nagar, Phase-7, contacted the police after noticing a foul smell emanating from flat number 704, leading to the shocking discovery of the heinous crime.

READ | Mumbai man murders live-in partner, chops up body, lives with parts

Upon arriving at the flat, the officers broke the door and found the remains of the woman, Saraswati Vaidya, in a state of advanced decomposition, scattered throughout the apartment.

Jayant Bajbale, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 1), said, “We believe that Sahani cut the woman’s body into pieces so as to make it easy for him to dispose them of.”

The officials also suspect that the perpetrator deliberately disposed of the missing body parts in an undisclosed location.

Also read | Dumped body parts, foul smells and living with body parts - 5 points on Mira Road case

The police have apprehended the accused, identified as Manoj Sahani, and are conducting further interrogations.

A preliminary inquiry revealed that Vaidya had been living with Manoj Sane in the flat for the past three years.

Residents of the building told police that the couple did not mingle with them. The door of their flat does not have a nameplate and it is registered in the name of Sonam Builders, police officers said.

Rekindles memories of Shraddha Walkar's killing

The incident has several aspects in common with the Shraddha Walkar murder case that stunned the country last year. Walkar was strangled by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala, who chopped her body into 35 pieces and disposed of them in a forest in the national capital over 18 days. He also stored some of the body parts in a fridge and charred her face to hide her identity.