The dastardly killing of 29-year-old merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput in Meerut by his wife Muskaan Rastogi and her boyfriend Sahil Shukla, both 27, has uncovered a frightening story of obsession and madness.

Muskaan and Sahil, who had confessed to killing and dismembering Saurabh, were arrested and had a sleepless night in Chaudhary Charan Singh district jail, with Muskaan displaying extreme distress, jail authorities said.

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On Wednesday, they appeared before the chief judicial magistrate and were remanded to 14-day judicial custody. While leaving the court, a group of lawyers attacked them, physically manhandling the duo. Sahil’s clothes were ripped during the scuffle, and police had to step in to restore order.

A Deadly Love Affair

The two had first met at a party hosted by their school’s WhatsApp group years ago during their school days, and the bond was rekindled. Their relationship was soon romantic, and police say they perceived Saurabh as a hindrance to the relationship and thus conspired to kill him.

On March 3, Muskaan made use of Saurabh’s arrival home with a plate of lauki ke kofte prepared by his mom, Renu. She warmed the food and spiked it with sedatives. As soon as Saurabh became unconscious, she summoned Sahil to their rented premises in Indira Nagar. Both of them inflicted brutal knife wounds, stabbing him repeatedly till he bled to death, according to SP (City) Ayush Vikram Singh.

Disposal of Body

Once he had killed him, Sahil pulled Saurabh’s body into the bathroom, where he cut off his head with a razor and then cut his hands off at the wrists. The plan was to further dismember the body and disperse the pieces in various places. They stuffed his body into a bag and concealed it within the storage compartment of their double bed, where Muskaan slept that night, inches over her husband’s corpse. At the same time, Sahil kept the head and hands at his residence for 24 hours.

They had given up their original idea by March 5 and bought a big blue drum from Ghantaghar and cement instead. They put Saurabh’s torso in the drum at Muskaan’s house. Sahil fetched the head and hands later to add them as well. They then filled the drum with a cement mixture, entombing the remains in a concrete tomb, a technique the police suspect was taken from crime movies.

The police suspect that the murder was planned out to a T, and the couple went out and procured weapons, sedatives, and searched for disposal grounds much in advance. Their affair had reignited in 2019 via a school WhatsApp group and grew stronger due to Saurabh’s stay in London.

The authorities are also investigating the involvement of substance abuse in their relationship. “As per her family members, Sahil would consume contraband drugs, which he would also share with Muskaan. We are also investigating this side of the case,” news agency PTI quoted superintendent of police (SP) Ayush Vikram Singh.

Muskaan and Sahil’s relationship eventually pushed them to plot against Saurabh, with Muskaan planning to divorce her husband and marry Sahil.