'Even chameleon will be ashamed...': Maha BJP leader slams NCP's Supriya Sule for attacking Fadnavis over Mira Road murder  

The brutal murder of a 36-year-old woman, Saraswati Vaidya, by her live-in partner in the Mira Road locality of Maharashtra's Thane district triggered a war of words on Thursday between a BJP leader and NCP's Supriya Sule. The police have arrested the accused man, 56-year-old Manoj Sane, after the chopped body parts of the victim were recovered from their rented flat located on the seventh floor of a building in the Mira Road area, where they had been living for the past three years.

Targeting the state government over the horrific murder, Supriya Sule said the criminals in the state had no fear of the law. "State Home Minister (Devendra Fadnavis) needs to pay serious attention to his account. Investigating agencies should try to prosecute the accused in this case in fast track court and give him death sentence."

BJP state women wing president Chitra Kishor Wagh reacted sharply to her tweet and said even a chameleon would be ashamed to see her changing colours. She said Fadnavis was capable enough to take action in the Mira Road case.

"But you did not feel like speaking out when a minor girl at Manchar in Pune district was kidnapped by a Muslim boy, when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was in power, and was not found for two-and-a-half years. Had the MVA government intervened, then Shraddha Walkar would not have been cut into pieces," she said.

In May last year, Shraddha Walkar, a native of Maharashtra, was allegedly murdered by her live-in partner Aftab Amin Poonawala. He sawed her body into several pieces which he kept in a fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in South Delhi's Chattarpur. He later disposed of the body parts across the city over several days.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, too, targeted the Maharashtra government of BJP and Shinde-Sena. Commenting on a video shared by the news agency PTI, she said: "Just another day in Mumbai MMR for a woman. The unconstitutional government is continuing to shame the state."

Meanwhile, a court in Mumbai has remanded Manoj Sane in police custody till June 16. While a case has been registered against Sane under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence), the motive behind the crime is yet to be ascertained, said the official from Naya Nagar police station.

The victim (36) was in a live-in relationship with Sane, who works in a ration shop, and the couple resided in flat no. 704 on the seventh floor of Geeta Akashdweep building in Mira Road East for the past three years.

(With inputs from PTI)