Mira Road murder: Police yet to establish sequence of events

The police have already established that Sane killed Vidya and cut her body into pieces, Bajbale said, adding, “We are trying to piece together whether Vidya consumed poison and died or did Sane stabbed her to death during a fight.”

Mumbai: The police custody remand of Manoj Sane, 56, who was arrested for allegedly killing his live-in partner and chopping the body into pieces in Mira Road, was extended till June 22 on Friday after the police informed the court that they are yet to establish the sequence of the incident.

On June 7, the residents of the J-Wing of the Geeta Akashdeep building in Geeta Nagar, Mira Road, called the police after a foul smell was emanating from flat number 704. On breaking open the door, the police saw an electric saw on the bed and the body parts of Vaidya cut into pieces and stacked inside buckets, tubs and bowls. A bunch of her hair was lying on the kitchen floor and body parts boiled in a pressure cooker. The police arrested Sane on the same night. (HT PHOTO)

The Nayanagar police informed the Thane court that they have seized all the weapons, including the knives and the electric chain saw which were used to dismember the body of Saraswati Vaidya, 32, however, they are yet to establish the sequence of the murder.

The police also told the court that Sane had revealed all the places where he had disposed of the body parts, however, despite conducting a comprehensive search operation, they could not recover all the body parts.

“We have asked for police custody to find out the motive behind the murder and the exact sequence of events when the murder took place,” said Jayant Bajbale, deputy commissioner of police, Zone 1) of the Mira-Bhayander-Vasai-Virar police.

The police have already established that Sane killed Vidya and cut her body into pieces, Bajbale said, adding, “We are trying to piece together whether Vidya consumed poison and died or did Sane stabbed her to death during a fight.”

According to the police, 13 pieces of evidence have been collected from the couple’s flat, including two buckets, a tub, two bowls, a pressure cooker, medicines, phone of the couple, the electric saw used to hack her body, knives, clothes of the duo and his black backpack which he used to dispose of the parts.

“On checking Sane’s phone, we have found a photo of Vaidya’s body after he had killed her and was planning to dispose of it,” said a police officer. He added that they have recorded statements from 25 people, including the vendor from whom Sane had purchased the pesticide.

“Sane had been misleading us but we have so far established that Sane is Vaidya’s killer and had murdered her, as she used to fight with him for failing to provide financial security and for cheating on her,” said the officer.