Thane (Maharashtra): In a new twist in the ghastly murder of Saraswati Vaidya by 56-year-old Manoj Sane, police on Friday said that the victim and the accused were married and they did not reveal this fact to others due to "age difference".
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Jayant Bajbale told reporters that during the investigation police found out that the 36-year-old victim and accused were married. "The victim's sisters knew about it. But, the duo had hidden this from the others because of their age difference," the DCP said.
Two days after Vaidya's body parts were found pressure-cooked and roasted inside a flat where she stayed with Sane in Mira Bhayander, three of her sisters recorded their statements with the police. The Naya Nagar police on Thursday arrested Sane in connection with the crime. Sane has been remanded in police custody till June 16. The gory details that emerged in the case evoked the memories of the last year's Shraddha Walkar's case.
Amid Sane's interrogation, police traced Vaidya's family members and her three sisters recorded their statements, the official said. While Sane told the police that he was planning to take his life after disposing of Vaidya's body parts, the motive behind the crime is still not clear, he said. Sane, who worked at a ration shop in suburban Borivali, kept the woman's chopped body parts in three buckets in their rented flat in Mira Road and tried to hide the stench by spraying room freshener, his neighbours said.
The crime came to light after neighbours alerted the police about a foul smell emanating from the flat. According to the FIR registered by the police, Sane not only boiled body pieces in a pressure cooker and an utensil after cutting them with a saw, but also roasted them and put them in a bucket and tub. It is suspected that Vaidya died on June 4 but came to light on June 7.
Neighbours also told the police Sane had been feeding stray dogs for the past few days, something he had never done before. The FIR has been registered against Sane under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence). (With agency inputs)
