Mira Road Murder: Neighbour Says Accused Didn’t Mingle Much But Was Scared When...

As the Mumbai police intensified the probe into the brutal murder of a 36-year-old woman Saraswati Vaidya allegedly by her 56-year-old live-in partner in the Mira Road area, more gory details have come to the fore that is somewhat similar to the shocking Shraddha Walkar case. Talking about the behaviour of the accused, his neighbour on Thursday said that Manoj Sahani used to avoid interacting with residents and kept only to himself even on festivals or special occasions.

Speaking to news agency ANI, the neighbour said that he wasn’t even aware of the accused’s name until the alleged murder came to the fore. He was quoted as saying, “He kept it only to himself and didn’t mingle with the others. I didn’t even know his name for the last three years. A foul smell – like that of a dead rat – started emanating on Monday morning or Tuesday evening. We didn’t imagine the source of it to be that flat, we had seen things like that only on TV…”

Sharing details about how he sensed something suspicious, the neighbour said he noticed a foul smell on Monday and it became worse by Wednesday afternoon. “I knocked on his door but nobody responded. I felt that somebody is in the flat but not answering. When I knocked for the second time, I felt the smell of a room freshener. At that point in time, I sensed that something is suspicious. I waited for 5-10 minutes but answered. Then I came downstairs. After 10-15 minutes, he (Manoj Sahani) also came and I asked him to check his flat to know the reason behind the foul smell. He insisted that he is going out for some urgent work and will check once back. I immediately informed our building secretary about it. His (Manoj Sahani) eyes were red and was scared. His body odour was also exactly the same (foul smell).”

Before this, the people residing in the Geeta Aakashdeep Cooperative Housing Society were clueless about the origin of the foul smell.

The accused allegedly killed Vaidya and chopped her into several pieces at their residence on the seventh floor of a building in the Mira Bhayandar area of Thane. While 13 body parts were found at the residence of the accused, he disposed of other parts after cutting them into several pieces, sources told News18 on Thursday.

The accused was arrested on Wednesday evening while trying to flee from his rented apartment. He was staying with the victim in flat 704 at J wing of the society in Geeta Nagar Phase 7 over the past three years.

ANI quoted Jayant Bajbale, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Mumbai as saying that the chopped body parts were found dumped in utensils and buckets in the flat, and have been sent to hospital for further analysis. An FIR has been registered in the case.

In somewhat similar case, Shraddha Walkar was allegedly strangled to death by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala on May 18 last year. The accused sawed her body into several pieces, which he kept in a refrigerator for almost three weeks at his residence in south Delhi’s Mehrauli.

(with inputs from PTI)