UP woman went on Shimla trip after killing husband with lover
The woman, Muskan Rastogi, and her lover and murdered the merchant navy officer on the night of March 4, while her daughter was asleep in the next room.
A woman, along with her lover, allegedly murdered and dismembered her 32-year-old husband in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut before going on a trip to Shimla, investigators said on Wednesday.
The alleged killers, Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla, chopped the body of the deceased, Saurabh Rajput, into 15 pieces and hid them inside a drum sealed with cement, officials said.
Rajput and Rastogi got married in 2016 and had a five-year-old daughter, Pihu. The two lived in Indiranagar's Master colony in Brahmpuri.
An affair with the neighbour
Troubles came up in their marital life when Rajput got a job at a mall in London in 2020 and had to leave his wife and daughter behind in Meerut. He later joined service in the merchant navy there.
In his absence, Rastogi grew closer to her neighbor Shukla, a Chartered Accountant, entered into a illicit relationship with him.
Meanwhile, Rajput found out about his wife's affair with their neighbor. He had returned to Meerut on February 24 to celebrate his wife's birthday on February 25 and that of his daughter on February 28.
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Amid the increasing tensions between Rajput and Rastogi over the latter's illicit affair, the deceased visited his mother's home in Brahmpuri on March 2.
Night of the murder
On March 4, Rastogi mixed sedatives in Rajput's food which made him unconscious. She then called her lover over and together, the duo stabbed Saurabh Rajput in his chest multiple times and killed him. And all this while, her daughter Pihu had been sleeping in the next room.
They then used a sharp object to chop his body up into 15 pieces in the bathroom. To hide the remains of her husband, Rastogi and Shukla then concealed the body parts in a plastic drum and filled the container with a mixture of cement and dust afterward.
The next day, Rastogi dropped her daughter off at her parents' home and went to Shimla with Shukla.
Muskan Rastogi confesses to murder
Upon her return, Muskan Rastogi's mother Kavita asked her where her husband was. Though she initially misled her with vague answers, the repeated questioning led her to reveal the truth. She confessed to her mother that Saurabh Rajput had been killed.
Immediately, her family members took her to the Brahmpuri police station on Tuesday afternoon, wherein they narrated the entire incident to the cops.
Police superintendent Ayush Vikram Singh said that Rastogi had confessed to killing her husband when she came back home from Shimla and was unable to explain his absence to her mother.
She told the police that Rajput's body was hidden inside a blue drum in the house. Police sent two officers to confirm the same, but the officials could not find the body. They reported back that Rastogi was lying as there was only cement in the drum.
Deceased's severed head, limbs in cement drum
Later, police brought Muskan Rastogi to the scene of the crime and there she told them that Rajput's body parts were inside the cement. Since they could not see the body still, police also interrogated Sahil Shukla.
Shukla also confessed to them that the body parts were in fact inside the cement-filled drum. To avoid any unnecessary attention, police discreetly carried the entire drum to a hospital in an e-rickshaw.
The drum was broken down with the help of hammers and drilling machines, following which Rajput's severed head, hands and feet were discovered. His remains were then sent for post-mortem.
SP Singh said that both Rastogi and Shukla had been arrested, adding that Muskan had confessed to the entire crime at the police station.
Deceased's brother was also suspicious of Rastogi
Additionally, Rajput's brother Rahul had also filed a missing complaint with the Brahmpuri police station. Rahul said that his brother had been missing since March 7. He visited Rajput's rented home and found it locked.
Rahul suspected foul play and so he called Rastogi, who claimed that she did not know anything about her husband's whereabouts and that she was at her parents' home.
Rahul's suspicion did not end there. He began to ask around about his brother to the neighbours. At that time, the alleged killers arrived at Rajput's home. This time when Rahul asked Muskan about her husband, she failed to provide him with any concrete answer.
Senior police superintendent Vipin Tada said that the accused are being interrogated thoroughly.
