Meerut murder case: The brutal murder of 29-year-old merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput, allegedly carried out by his wife Muskaan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla, both 27, in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut, has exposed chilling details, and a mindset driven by obsession and delusion.
Muskaan Rastogi, who with her lover Sahil Shukla confessed to murdering and dismembering her husband, Saurabh Rajput, spent a restless night in Chaudhary Charan Singh district jail in Meerut, showing signs of extreme distress, jail officials confirmed.
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On Wednesday, the duo was presented in the court of the chief judicial magistrate and remanded to 14-day judicial custody. Outside the court, they were attacked by a group of lawyers, who physically assaulted them. Sahil’s clothes were torn during the altercation, and police had to intervene to ensure their safety.
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The two met in person for the first time since school at a party organised by the WhatsApp group at a mall in Meerut, where their love affair started. Police have claimed that the duo planned and killed Saurabh Rajput because they considered him to be an obstacle in their relationship.
After killing him, Sahil dragged Saurabh’s body to the bathroom, severed his head with a razor, then hacked off his hands at the wrists.
Their initial plan was to chop the body into pieces, stuff them into polythene bags, and scatter them across isolated locations. They began by packing Saurabh’s torso into a bag and stashing it inside the box of their double bed — where Muskaan slept that night, inches above her husband’s remains in Indira Nagar. Meanwhile, Sahil took the head and hands to his own home, keeping them in his room for 24 hours.
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By March 5, the duo abandoned their initial plan for disposing of the body. They bought a large blue drum from Ghantaghar and procured cement from a local market. Back at Muskaan’s residence, they placed Saurabh’s torso inside the drum, after which Sahil brought back the head and hands to include them as well.
They then poured a mixture of cement and dust, sealing the drum and encasing the dismembered body in a concrete tomb—a technique that, according to police, may have been influenced by portrayals in films.
Muskaan laced kofta with sedatives
The plan was set into motion on March 3 when Saurabh returned home carrying a dish of ‘lauki ke kofte’ prepared by his mother, Renu. Seizing the moment, Muskaan reheated the food and mixed in sedatives. As Saurabh drifted into unconsciousness, she called Sahil, asking him to come to their rented home in Indira Nagar. The duo then launched a brutal knife attack on the helpless Saurabh, stabbing him multiple times until he succumbed to his injuries, said SP (City) Ayush Vikram Singh.
They meticulously planned the murder
Police officials claimed that from purchasing knives to obtaining sedatives and even scouting locations to dispose of the body, Muskaan and Sahil meticulously planned the murder. The two had rekindled their relationship in 2019 via a school WhatsApp group, and what started as a friendship quickly blossomed into an affair.
This bond grew stronger due to the absence of Saurabh, who worked in London. According to police, drugs may have played a significant role in bringing Muskan and Sahil closer together.
“According to her family members, Sahil used to take contraband drugs, which he also shared with Muskaan. We are further investigating this aspect of the case,” news agency PTI quoted superintendent of police (SP) Ayush Vikram Singh as saying.
The affair eventually led to Muskaan planning to leave Saurabh and marry Sahil instead.
(With inputs from Deepak Lavania and PTI)