The man from Mumbai, who is accused of murdering his live-in partner, allegedly used a pressure cooker to boil her body parts and placed the remains into plastic bags with the intention of disposing them, police said.
Manoj Sahani, 56, has been remanded to police custody by the Mira-Bhayandar Court till 16 June.
Sahani was arrested on Wednesday night on charges of killing his partner, 32-year-old Saraswati Vaidya.
According to the police, Sahani killed Vaidya three to four days ago, following which he bought a tree-cutter to dice her body into pieces. He then boiled the parts and stuffed them into plastic bags.
Over 12 to 13 pieces of the woman’s body were recovered from his rented apartment in Geeta Nagar, Mira Road.
Following a phone call from the neighbors reporting a noxious smell emanating from the apartment, the police at Nayanagar station swiftly responded and took immediate action on Wednesday night. The police discovered Vaidya’s decomposed body, which had been severed into multiple pieces.
Jayant Bajbale, deputy commissioner of police (zone 1) of the Mira-Bhayander Vasai Virar police, said to Indian Express, “Some body parts from the kitchen area have been seized and sent to Sir JJ Hospital in Mumbai for forensic analysis.”
Police said Vaidya met Sahani for the first time in 2014 at his ration shop. The couple came to stay at the flat three years ago and would not speak to neighbours, media outlets reported. Police said that Sahani had admitted that there used to be instances of domestic violence between them.
The homicide exhibits a striking similarity to the case of Shraddha Walkar, a girl from Maharashtra who was also murdered and dismembered by her alleged boyfriend, Aftab Poonawala.
