UP: Merchant navy officer’s body found sealed in drum; wife, her lover held

A merchant navy officer was allegedly stabbed to death by his wife and her lover, his body dismembered into 15 different pieces and sealed inside a drum with cement, police said.

The officer's remains have been recovered and the two accused arrested. The incident took place in the Indira Nagar area in Meerut, police said on Tuesday (March 18).

Behind the chilling crime, police said, was an extramarital affair between Saurabh Rajput's wife Muskaan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla. It was a shocking story of betrayal and ruthlessness.

Also read: Meerut murders: Family of 5 killed, children's bodies found in bed box

Love story gone awry

Saurabh Rajput and Muskaan Rastogi fell in love and got married in 2016.

Keen to spend more time with his wife, Saurabh quit his merchant navy job. However, the love marriage and his abrupt decision to leave his job upset his family and this led to friction at his home.

Saurabh moved out with his wife Muskaan to a rented house. In 2019, Muskaan and Saurabh had a daughter but the latter came to know that Muskaan was having an affair with his friend Sahil.

This led to tension between the couple and even divorce was contemplated. Eventually, Saurabh held back because of his daughter and decided to rejoin the merchant navy and started to travel out of the country

Also read: UP: 5 of family found dead at Meerut home; bodies of children hidden in bed box

Murder most foul

To celebrate his daughter's birthday, Saurabh returned home on February 24. Muskaan and Sahil had allegedly become closer and decided to murder him.

According to their statement to the police, Muskaan mixed sleeping pills in Saurabh's food on March 4 and once he was asleep, Sahil killed him with a knife. They chopped up the body, put the pieces in a drum and sealed it with wet cement. They planned to dispose of the body eventually.

To mislead people Sahil and Muskaan even travelled to Manali with Saurabh's phone and started uploading photographs through his social media handles from there. But Saurabh’s family members filed a police complaint after not hearing from him for several days.

Police investigation

The police started investigating the disappearance of 29-year-old Saurabh Rajput. Additional superintendent of police Ayush Vikram Singh told PTI that on the basis of suspicion, police detained Rajput's wife Muskan (27) and her lover Sahil (25).

During interrogation, the two confessed to having stabbed Rajput to death on March 4 and also told the police what they had done with the body. The two have been arrested and will be presented before the court, added Singh.

Body remains recovered

The drum, which contained Saurabh's body pieces was transported to the mortuary and a drill machine was used to recover his last remains, 14 days after he was murdered.

The remains have been sent for post-mortem and a case has been registered based on a complaint lodged by Rajput's family, police said.