56-yr-old man chops body of 36-yr-old live-in partner in Mumbai

Mumbai: A 56-year-old man has been arrested for killing his live-in partner and chopping her body into pieces at his rented apartment on Mira Road in in Mumbai. Sources in the police department said that the man chopped the body of his partner with a tree cutter and also boiled the body parts in a cooker.

The accused, Manoj Sahani, had been staying with Saraswati Vaidya, 36, in Flat 704 at Geeta Akash Deep building in Geeta Nagar Phase 7 for the past three years. The neighbours alerted the police and complained of a foul smell emanating from the flat. Manoj runs a small shop in Boriwali.

On Wednesday evening, the residents in the building called up Nayanagar police station and complained about the foul smell. The decomposing body parts found in his house led to suspicion that the murder could have occurred 3-4 days ago. The police team rushed to the spot and found the decomposed body of the woman, which was cut into several pieces.

"Manoj Sahani and Saraswati Vaidya were in a live-in relationship and used to live in the Geeta Akash Deep building. The couple had a fight over some matter following which the woman was murdered by her partner. Her body was cut into pieces with a cutter. When we reached the house and opened the door, we understood it was a case of murder and the suspect tried to hide the evidence," said Jayant Bajbale, DCP (Zone 1).

The police are investigating to find out the motive behind the murder. The police have taken into custody the suspect and he is being interrogated.

It may be recalled that one Aaftab Poonawala murdered his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and chopped her body into pieces. He kept them in a refrigerator for nearly three weeks at his house in Delhi’s Mehrauli before scattering them at different places in the capital.