Mira Road murder: WhatsApp chats show victim accused Sane of cheating on her: Cops

Police found WhatsApp chats on the phone of a man who allegedly killed his live-in partner and chopped up her body in Mumbai. The chats accused the man of cheating on her. The police also found two knives in the couple's flat. The man allegedly used one knife to try and cut up the body and then purchased a larger, sharper one. The evidence collected also includes buckets, a tub, two bowls, a pressure cooker, phones, medicine, and clothing. The man has been remanded in custody until 6 July.

MUMBAI: On scanning through the mobile phone of Manoj Sane, arrested for allegedly killing his live-in partner and chopping her body into small pieces in their Mira Road flat, the police have found a few WhatsApp chats sent by the victim accusing him of cheating on her.

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The police have also gone through the phone of the victim, Saraswati Vaidya, 32, and wanted to question Sane, 56, about the WhatsApp messages. A Thane court on Thursday remanded the accused to judicial custody till July 6 after he completed police custody remand of 14 days.

Police officers, of Nayanagar police station, said that as Sane’s medicine was seized from the flat, they believe that Vaidya was aware of his medical condition. They added that Vaidya had been fighting with Sane for being active on dating apps and chatting with other women frequently.

In the remand application, the police also said that they had found two knives from the flat. “The first was Sane’s kitchen knife, which he had got sharpened at a local shop as he was unable to cut Vaidya’s body with it. He then realised that the knife was still not sharp enough. So, he purchased another bigger, sharper knife,” said a police officer from Nayanagar police station.

“We are waiting for the postmortem report of the body parts of Vaidya from JJ Hospital and chemical analysis of the viscera, which was found in the pressure cooker in a boiled condition. The samples have been sent to the forensic science laboratory in Kalina and we are also awaiting the DNA reports to confirm that the parts we found, were of Vaidya,” said Bajbale.

On June 7, police officers responded to a call by residents of the J wing of Geeta Akashdeep building about a stench emanating from flat number 704. On breaking open the door, they saw an electric saw on the bed and body parts cut into small pieces and stacked into buckets, tubs and bowls. A bunch of hair was lying on the kitchen floor and some body parts were found boiled in a pressure cooker. The police arrested Sane on the same night.

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

“Sane has told us that he had given Vaidya cold drink laced with pesticides and then helped her vomit it out. However, when she was about to pass out, he gave her buttermilk. When he realised Vaidya was dead, he clicked selfies with her body before hacking it into pieces with knives and an electric chain saw,” said another police officer.