Foul smell prompts neighbours to call police

The seventh-floor residents of the J wing of the Geeta Akashdeep building in Geeta Nagar Phase 7 decided to alert the police when Sane did not give a plausible explanation to the stench coming out of his flat — 704.

MUMBAI: The murder and the dismembering of Saraswati Vaidya, 32, an orphan allegedly killed by her 56-year-old live-in partner Manoj Sane, would not have come to light if the neighbours in the apartment had not alerted the police about the stench emanating from the accused’s flat.

Foul smell prompts neighbours to call police

The seventh-floor residents of the J wing of the Geeta Akashdeep building in Geeta Nagar Phase 7 decided to alert the police when Sane did not give a plausible explanation to the stench coming out of his flat — 704.

Somesh Shrivastav, a resident of flat number 701, told the police that on Wednesday afternoon, when he came home for lunch, his mother alerted him to the stench. To confirm its source, Somesh even peeped through the gap between the floor and the door of Sane’s flat.

At 4.30pm, Shrivastav ran into Sane in the building and asked him about the stench. He said Sane appeared restless and told him that he would check to find out the source of the foul smell.

“Sane was carrying a black backpack. He told me that he would return home around 10.30pm and resolve the issue,” said Shrivastav, who suspected something amiss and decided to alert the police.

“As the police officers had arrived on a two-wheeler, Sane was not aware that there were cops in the building and he came up using the lift at 8pm and was intercepted by the police officers,” said Shrivastav.

Shrivastav said that both Sane and Vaidya were introverted. “We did not even know their names until we switched on our television sets and saw the news,” said Vivek Shrivastav, another neighbour. “The doors of our three flats are always open and we mingle but we had only seen the couple when they went out or returned,” said Vivek.