From Shraddha Walkar To Naina Sahni, The Gory Murders By Partners That Shocked India

A man in Maharashtra's Mumbai allegedly murdered his live-in partner, chopped her body in pieces too many to count, and fed it to dogs after cooking it.

For most of the people, such brutal and gory scenes were earlier only subject of Western TV shows or once-in-a-decade kind of crimes. The string of such cases in recent months, however, has jolted people, with several failing to make sense of such crimes.

From the latest murder in Maharashtra to a 16-year-old girl's killing in Delhi last month, most of such gory crimes have lately been carried out by male partners of women.

Here we list such cases that have made headlines lately.

The Mumbai woman's murder

Manoj Sane, 56, allegedly killed his live-in partner Saraswati Vaidya, 32, at their house in Mumbai's Mira Road area. He was arrested on Wednesday.

In a shocking reminder of Shraddha Walkar's murder, Sane allegedly chopped Vaidya's body in several pieces and processed to dispose it.

"For three days after the alleged murder, Manoj Sane, 56, tried to dispose of the body. In his frantic efforts to evade detection, he pressure-cooked some body parts, roasted others, and ground some more in a mixer and fed them to stray dogs," reported The Hindustan Times.

The police were called to the house after a neighbour complained to the police of stench coming from the house.

When police personnel entered the house, they found blood-stained electric saw allegedly used to cut Vaidya's body, according to HT.

The report said that body parts were found in three buckets, the pressure cooker, the gas stove, a pan, and the basin in the kitchen.

"The kitchen was a complete mess — there were buckets and multiple pots and pans full of chopped and minced human flesh," HT quoted Assistant Police Inspector Rahul Bhagvat as saying.

The HT added that a pair of chopped off feet were also on the kitchen platform.

The Times of India reported that Sane is suspected to have fed the chopped body parts of Vaidya after processing them to stray dogs to dispose them.

The ToI reported that Sane allegedly strangled Vaidya but initially told the police she died after consuming poison. He was also allegedly inspired by Shraddha's murder in Delhi.

"Sane has claimed to have got ideas from the Shraddha Walkar case. But we have to get to the motive behind the crime," ToI quoted DCP Jayant Bajbale as saying.

Gory crimes against women by partners

Shraddha Walkar murder case

Shraddha Walkar, 26, was allegedly killed by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala, 28, last year at their house in South Delhi's Mehrauli area.

Aaftab allegedly killed Shraddha on May 18 last year and chopped her body in 35 pieces to dispose it in forests of Delhi in batches. He stored body pieces in their fridge at their home during the disposal process.

Both Shraddha and Aaftab were from Vasai in Maharashtra's Palghar district. They first moved to Mumbai and then to Delhi as Shraddha's family was opposed to her inter-faith relationship with Aaftab. They met on the dating platform Bumble.

The Delhi Police arrested Aaftab on November 12. The case came to Delhi when Shraddha's father filed a police complaint.

It was later reported that Aaftab had an abusive history and Shraddha had filed a complaint against him in Palghar as well.

Shraddha had filed a complaint at the Tulinj Police Station in Palghar and said that Aaftab had beaten her and had threatened to kill her. This had been going on for six months at the time, according to a report, which added that the complaint was later dissolved.

DCP Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar Suhas Bavache said that Shraddha in her written statement had stated that "the dispute between herself and Aaftab Poonawala was resolved", according to ANI.

Nikki Yadav murder case

Nikki Yadav, 23, was allegedly killed by her live-in partner Sahil Gehlot, 24, in Delhi.

Following the murder, Sahil allegedly kept Nikki's body in the fridge of his eatery in Delhi's Mitraon village.

In what further shocked the people, Sahil allegedly went on to marry another woman after he allegedly murdered Nikki and stuffed her body in the fridge.

"The police said the accused had hidden from his girlfriend the fact that his marriage was fixed with another woman. When Yadav came to know about the wedding, she had a heated argument with Gehlot which led to her murder," noted Outlook in a report earlier.

The murder allegedly took place on the intervening night of February 9-10.

"The accused went to the victim's place in his car and picked her up from there. She kept pressuring him to not get married. She had already planned to go with him to Goa and had booked tickets for February 9. She asked him to accompany her to Goa but he refused. This led to an argument and in anger, he killed her inside his car," an officer was quoted as saying by PTI.

After the killing, Sahil allegedly drove for 30-40 kms to reach the family-owned eatery where he stuffed Nikki's body in the fridge.

Sakshi murder case

The latest shocker came late last month in northwest Delhi's Shahbad Dairy area when 16-year-old Sakshi was stabbed over 20 times and bludgeoned to death.

Sakshi was stabbed over 20 times on May 28. It was caught on camera and the footage shows the accused attacking her even after her body falls to ground.

The accused, 20-year-old Sahil, was arrested from Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr. He and Sakshi are said to have been in a relationship.

According to police, Sakshi and Sahil had been seeing each other since June 2021. But for the last three to four months, she started moving away from the accused.

Sahil could have been planning to attack the girl for some time as she had started meeting her ex-boyfriend Praveen. She was in a relationship with Praveen for three to four years before she fell for Sahil, police said, adding that Sahil has claimed that Sakshi was keen to get back with Praveen since he had a motorcycle, reported PTI.

Woman's murder in Haryana

In April, a man was arrested for allegedly killing his wife and chopping her body for disposal in Haryana. He was identified as Jitender, 34.

The half-burnt torso of the woman was discovered in their rented house and both the chopped hands and her head were discovered separately in the Kherki Daula area, reported PTI.

The report further said that the man had confessed to the police to killing his wife.

Naina Sahni murder case

Though not a recent case, the Naina Sahni murder case is still remembered for the way it shocked Delhi in 1995.

Before the recent string of cases, the Naina Sahni murder case was often the most well-known case mentioned in discussions on crime. The high-profile crime has come to be known as one of the most sensational acts of crime in India.

In 1995, Congress leader Sushil Sharma murdered his wife Naina Sahni, chopped her body, and set it on fire in a 'tandoor' (clay oven) for disposal. For the usage of tandoor, the murder has been popularly referred to as 'tandoor kand' over the years.

The patrolling police personnel saw the smoke from the restaurant where the body was being burnt and then subsequently discovered it in half-burnt state. Sharma was arrested within a week.

"Sushil Sharma, a youth Congress leader, had shot dead his wife Naina Sahni over suspicion of her having an extramarital affair. The crime took place at their home in Delhi on July 2, 1995...The police that were patrolling the area reached the spot after seeing smoke coming out of the tandoor. They found Naina Sahni's dismembered and half-burnt body. Sushil Sharma had gone missing but was arrested within a week," notes NDTV in a report.