New Delhi:
A Merchant Navy officer from Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut was murdered, chopped up and the 15-odd pieces of his body were put into a drum and sealed with cement. Behind the chilling crime, police said, was an extramarital affair between Saurabh Rajput’s wife Muskaan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla. As police investigation, a shocking story of love, betrayal and ruthlessness came to the fore.
Short-Lived Joy
Saurabh Rajput and Muskaan Rastogi married in 2016. It was a love marriage. Eager to spend more time with his wife, Saurabh quit his Merchant Navy job. However, the love marriage and his abrupt decision to leave the job did not sit well with his family. This led to friction at home and Saurabh decided to move out. He and Muskaan soon moved to a rented house. In 2019, Muskaan and Saurabh had a daughter. But the joy was short-lived. Saurabh came to know that Muskaan was having an affair with his friend Sahil. This led to tension between the couple and even the divorce option was considered. Eventually, Saurabh stepped back, thinking of his daughter’s future. He decided to rejoin the Merchant Navy. In 2023, he left the country for work.
A Birthday Murder
Saurabh’s daughter turned six on February 28. The doting father returned home on February 24 to be with the little one on her big day. By now, Muskaan and Sahil had come closer and had decided to murder. According to their statement to the police, Muskaan mixed sleeping pills in Saurabh’s food on March 4. Once he was asleep, she and Sahil murdered him with a knife. They chopped up the body, put the pieces in a drum and sealed it with wet cement. The plan was to dispose of the body in time.
The Cover-Up Trip
When people in the area asked about Saurabh, Muskaan told them he had gone to a hill station. To mislead people and prevent any form of suspicion, she and Sahil then travelled to Kausani in Uttarakhand with Saurabh’s phone and started uploading photographs through his social media handles. But when Saurabh did not take calls from his family members for several days, they filed a police complaint.
The Revelation
After Saurabh’s family filed a complaint, police took Muskaan and Sahil into custody. When they were grilled, they broke down and confessed to the grisly murder. They then made the shocking revelation of where the body was. Police found the drum, but attempts to break through the hard cement using a hammer and chisel failed. The drum, with Saurabh’s body pieces in it, was then transported to the mortuary and a drill machine was used to recover Saurabh’s last remains, 14 days after he was murdered.
What Police Said
Meerut City police chief Ayush Vikram Singh said Saurabh Rajput’s family filed a complaint when he was not seen for several days. “On suspicion, we took his Muskaan and her lover Sahil into custody. During questioning, they said that on March 4, they killed Saurabh with a knife. They chopped up the body, put it in a drum and sealed it with cement. Police have recovered the body and sent it for autopsy. We have taken the two in custody and they will be presented in court,” the senior officer said.
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