A man in Mumbai, India has been arrested for allegedly killing his live-in partner and dismembering her body. Manoj Sane (56) is accused of strangling Saraswati Vaidya (34) in their rented flat after she consumed poison and then chopping up her body with an electric chainsaw that he had bought for INR 4,000 ($50). He then pressure-cooked and roasted the parts of her body on the gas stove. So far, two bags of cooked body parts have been recovered by police. The accused had purchased a tile cutter machine worth INR 1,000 and five bottles of nilgiri (eucalyptus) oil to delay the decomposition of the body.
Three years after Sane rented the flat, residents of the seven-storey Geeta Akashdeep cooperative housing society in Geeta Nagar noticed a strong smell emanating from his flat. When they questioned him about the source of the odour, he refused to address the issue and instead walked around wearing a mask. Residents informed the police and upon investigation, it was discovered that Sane had been living in the flat with the dismembered body of Vaidya. The kitchen and common bathroom were used as the chopping and cooking stations, while the other bedroom was used for storage.
Sane had lost his job last month after his employer’s licence was cancelled. When questioned by police, Sane said he got the idea for the killing from the Shraddha Walkar case where a call centre employee was killed in a similar fashion by her live-in partner last year. Sane is believed to have been feeding cooked body parts to stray dogs in the locality, but this is yet to be fully investigated. Three bags of body parts have been collected for examination.
The flat belongs to Sonam Builders and was rented by Sane three years ago. The rent agreement was signed only by Sane, without any mention of Vaidya’s name. The motive behind the killing still remains unclear. While Sane has been arrested for the murder and dismemberment of Vaidya, he has not yet been charged.
