Meerut murder: Woman laced kofta with sedatives, ran Google search before killing husband

Police said that Saurabh Rajput remains were recovered from a drum filled with cement, and his wife and her lover were arrested

Gruesome details continue to emerge in the case of Saurabh Rajput, a former merchant navy officer killed, chopped into pieces and sealed inside a drum with cement allegedly by his wife Muskan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut.

Meerut: Police take away Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rajput's wife Muskan and her lover Sahil Shukla after they were arrested in connection with his murder, in Meerut, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Muskan with her partner Sahil allegedly killed her husband Saurabh, dismembered his body, and sealed the body parts in a drum filled with cement(PTI)

SP (City) Ayush Vikram Singh revealed more details on the murder for which the accused duo has pleaded guilty.

Sedative laced ‘lauki ke kofte’

The 29-year-old Saurabh returned home on March 3 to meet Muskan and his daughter with a dish of ‘lauki ke kofte’ prepared by his mother, Renu, the officer revealed.

Meerut: Police intervene as lawyers trash accused Sahil Shukla while he was being produced in a court in connection with Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rajput's killing, in Meerut, Wednesday, March 19, 2025.(PTI)

Muskan (27), who had been hatching plans to kill her husband since November 2024, seized the opportunity, reheating the dish and lacing it with the sedatives. As Saurabh slipped into unconsciousness, she invited her lover Sahil Shukla (27) to their rented home in Indira Nagar to kill Saurabh, who was perceived as a ‘hindrance’ to their relationship.

Seizing the opportunity, the couple unleashed a frenzy of knife attacks on the sleeping Saurabh and stabbed him repeatedly until life drained from his body, the officer said.

Searched Google for drug names

Police said Muskan had been looking to purchase sleeping pills and narcotics in ways that would not invite any suspicion.

On February 22, Muskan visited a doctor on Sharda Road claiming to be suffering from depression and requested sleeping pills. Later, she turned to Google to search for drug names as the doctor did not prescribe enough amount of sleeping pills that could help execute her plot.

After adding more names to the prescription, she and Sahil purchased a lethal cocktail of sleeping pills and sedatives from a pharmacy in Kharia Nagar. To make Sahil's task easier, they also purchased two meat-cutting knives costing ₹800, a ₹300 razor, and polythene bags, police revealed.

(With inputs from Deepak Lavania)