MUMBAI: The three elder sisters of Saraswati Vaidya approached the Naya Nagar police in Mira Road after reading about her murder.

In their statements, the women who stay in Mumbai said their youngest sister and Manoj Sane, 56, married in a temple and initially lived in Borivli.Sane, 56, is accused of murdering Vaidya, 34, in their Mira Road flat and chopping the body into small pieces with a chainsaw.The sisters said they had visited Sane and Vaidya when the couple lived in Borivli, but had not been to their Mira Road home.

Sane had rented flat 704 in Geeta Akashdeep building three years ago.

Though the couple did not interact much with neighbours, they believed the couple to be husband-wife.

The two did attend an annual pooja in the building.The sisters also told the police that neither Vaidya nor any of them had visited Sane's family home in Sane Residency, Babhai Naka, Borivli (west).The sisters said due to their age difference, Vaidya would often tell people that Sane was her maternal uncle.

Vaidya had visited her orphanage, Jankibai Apte Balikashram, a few years ago to get a certificate of her stay there.

She had told the staffers that she lived with her uncle and that he had a business.The police said the sisters' DNA samples will be matched with that of Vaidya.

The body parts are in J J hospital for forensic examination.

The parts will be handed over to the sisters after the DNA report confirms Vaidya's identity.The chainsaw used to cut the body was purchased from a hardware store in Bhayander (East) on June 4, said the police, and hours later Sane returned to the shop to fix the chain that had slipped.

The shop owner said he does not remember when Sane bought it, but recalls the repair.

He is yet to be questioned.There is no clarity on the motive behind the murder.

The police are not ruling out domestic violence as assault marks were found on portions of the limbs seized by the cops.

They are probing if Sane would lock the flat door from outside when he left for work.

Neighbours said while the door was mostly locked, they rarely saw Vaidya leave with Sane.The police said they will record the statement of Sane's relatives too.

His uncle Madhukar Sane, who stays in Sane Residency, has told cops that he did not know anything about Vaidya.

Madhukar used to wave at the accused Manoj when he passed by the ration shop where he worked.

Sane has a flat in the building which has been let out.Sane has been changing his statements, said the cops.

He claimed to be suffering from a life-threatening illness, but no medical documents on it have been found from his flat.Sane told the investigators that he planned to commit suicide after disposing of the body parts.

He is suspected to have carried some of the body parts in a backpack before dumping them.

The exact spots are still not known.01:01WATCH: Woman cut into pieces, live-in-partner detained by Police in MumbaiAn official from the orphanage said Vaidya was handed over to them in 2001 as an orphan from Rahuri town in Ahmednagar district by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).

She appeared unsuccessfully in 2010 for her Class X examination, and after that she was repatriated to the CWC.After about five years, Vaidya started intermittently visiting the Balikashram.

"Whenever she came, Vaidya would tell the people her life was going on smoothly and that she was happy that she met her uncle in Mumbai.

She maintained she didn't want to marry and that she was happy working and living with her uncle," the official said.(With inputs from Abhilash Botekar in Nashik)WatchMira Road murder case: 'Killer' Manoj Sane chopped Saraswati Vaidya's body parts, pressure-cooked; Police recovered chainsaw, tile cutter machine