How Mira Road Murder Accused Got ‘Trapped’ In Hunt For Dead Rat

New Delhi: Manoj Sane who ‘chopped, boiled and roasted’ the body parts of his dead live-in partner tried all tricks in the book to escape the law but it was ultimately the “hunt for a dead rat” that finally trapped the 56-year-old.

According to a report in Times of India, the residents on the seventh floor of Geeta Akashdeep building in Geeta Nagar area of Mira Road, near Mumbai, started scanning their homes and the building terrace for a dead rat after the foul smell on their floor became unbearable. They even knocked at Sane’s door with an appeal for a similar check of his flat, but got no response.

Thirty-two-year-old Saraswati Vaidya was killed in Sane’s rented flat, 704, in the morning on June 4. By noon, Sane went out to buy tools to cut the body into pieces. According to the TOI report, on Monday morning, when members of the other three flats — 701, 702 and 703 — stepped out, they complained of some stench. On Tuesday, it got stronger.

As the neighbours continued their scanning, they could not find the source of the stench. By Wednesday morning, the smell just became intolerable. The report stated that the most affected was flat 701 belonging to Niraj Srivastava. “It became clear the smell was coming from flat 704,” Srivastava’s family member was quoted.

The report further said that the neighbours knocked at Sane’s flat as it did not have a doorbell. But they did not get a response. The suspicion grew as they could smell an air freshener when they came close to the flat.

Building secretary Santosh Pradhan received a complaint from Sane’s neighbours about both a stench as well as choked drains. After discussion on Sane not addressing the “issue” of stench and “instead moving around wearing a mask”, the residents decided to call the police. When the officers broke open the flat door, the stench made them vomit and the sight of body parts and blood in buckets and plastic bags in the kitchen area left them shocked. Residents also suspected that Sane may have fed some body parts of the stray dogs as he was lately seen feeding strays — something that he had not done before. However, police on Thursday said that the theory holds no merit.

The TOI report quoted neighbours as saying that though Sane and Vaidya kept to themselves, they did participate in the annual building pooja. Residents said Vaidya rarely stepped out.

DCP Jayant Bajbale had on Thursday revealed that Manoj Sane claimed to have been “influenced” by Shraddha Walkar’s murder and got ideas from the case.