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(Trigger Warning: Descriptions of violence. Reader discretion advised)
The Mira Road Police investigating the murder of 32-year-old Saraswati Vaidya in the area said that the accused, her live-in partner Manoj Sahni, minced and boiled her body parts using a mixie and a cooker before getting rid of them.
The police also found tree cutters in the couple's apartment in Akashganga building which were reportedly used to chop the victim's body. The accused had disposed of some body parts, but a leg and a few other parts have been retrieved.
"Some body parts from the kitchen area have been seized and sent to Sir JJ Hospital in Mumbai for forensic analysis," the police said.
Vaidya, who was an orphan, was found dead on the night of Wednesday, 6 June, when neighbours alerted the police of a foul smell emanating from the couple's house on the seventh floor.
Sahni was detained by the Naya Nagar Police on Wednesday night and was arrested under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.
On Thursday, 8 June, he was taken into police custody after the Thane Court sent him on remand till 16 June.
'Couple Had Been Together Nearly 10 Years'
Fifty-six-year-old Sahni allegedly murdered Vaidya over domestic disputes.
According to the police, the couple met each other in 2014 at a kirana shop run by Sahni. They had been staying at the current apartment for the past three years, but have been in a live-in relationship for nearly 10 years. Previously, they stayed in Borivalli.
The police further said that as per the neighbours' statements, the couple used to fight a lot.
"He was very possessive about her and he would constantly question her character. He did not allow her to speak to others, even the neighbours," a police source told The Quint.
The couple's neighbour, who informed the police about the smell, told the media:
"They [the couple] have been living here for a while, but I didn't even know their names. They would just come and go. For the past two days, a stink was emanating from the house. We thought it was a dead rat or something, we had not even noticed. Yesterday, the stink got worse, so I knocked on the door. But no one responded. That's when I called the police."
The police suspect that Sahni murdered Vaidya on 4 June. But as per the statement of the accused, he claims she drank poison to take her own life.
"In his statement, he claims he disposed of her body as he was afraid of abatement. We have sent her body to JJ Hospital for post-mortem examination," the police said.
They added that as per Sahni's statement, he thought "no one would come looking for her as she was an orphan."
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