Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla stand accused of killing Rastogi’s husband, Saurabh Rajput, before disposing of his remains in a shocking manner and heading off on holiday. Investigators have since released disturbing details
Back in March, lovers Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla took a beaming selfie together, looking to all the world like a carefree couple in love.
Disturbingly, this snap was taken just 11 days after the brutal murder of Rastogi’s husband, Saurabh Rajput, a crime of which Rastogi and Shukla both stand accused.
Merchant Navy Officer Saurabh, with whom Rastogi shares a six-year-old daughter, was drugged on March 4, before being brutally stabbed to death by the couple, who took despicable steps to conceal their crime, it is alleged.
After his death, Saurabh’s remains were apparently treated with callous indignity. It’s alleged that Rastogi and Shukla dismembered him before hiding his body parts in various places to evade detection. His torso was stashed in a bag and placed in a bed box at Rastogi’s home, while his head and wrists were taken to Shukla’s house, where they were sealed inside a cement-filled drum.
This drum was kept in the bathroom overnight, and Saurabh’s dismembered body parts remained inside for two weeks. It’s understood that some pieces were even crushed up in a mixer, as per a grim post-mortem report.
All the while, Rastogi and Shukla headed off on holiday to Himachal Pradesh, a mountainous region in the north of India.
READ MORE: Elderly Brit couple held in ‘horrific’ Taliban jail ‘may die in prison’ family fears
From here, they attempted to pretend Saurabh was still alive, the Times of India reports, even allegedly sending messages to his family.
Rastogi and Shukla spent time up in the picturesque hills, visiting the vibrant city of Shimla and journeying to Kasol, a peaceful hamlet famed for its hot water springs.
Eventually, however, Rastogi is said to have confessed all to her parents, who then contacted the police. Both Rastogi and Shukla were arrested and charged with murder, as well as the destruction of evidence.
Officers then began the retrieval process of Saurabh’s body, which involved slicing open the drum and painstakingly removing the cement, which had hardened. A member of the post-mortem team told news agency PTI: “It was put in the drum and then filled with dust and cement. The body solidified in the cement and did not rot due to lack of air. The smell was not extremely foul.”
A subsequent post-mortem report revealed devastating details of the manner of Saurabh’s death and desecration, with one doctor revealing that he had died following three forceful blows from a “long, sharp knife pierced deep inside the heart”.
Meanwhile, Police Superintendent Ayush Vikram Singh issued the following statement: “Muskan brutally stabbed Saurabh in his heart, puncturing it. His neck was severed, and both palms were cut off. The body was cut up into four pieces to fit it in the drum.”
It was also reported that Saurabh’s legs had been bent backwards in an attempt to squeeze them inside the drum.
It’s understood that Rastogi and Shukla began their affair after reconnecting on a WhatsApp group for old school friends back in 2019. Superintendent Singh has previously asserted: “Muskan manipulated Sahil through fake Snapchat messages, making him believe they were signs from his deceased mother.
“Days before Saurabh’s return, she bought two knives, claiming they were for cutting chicken, and faked anxiety to obtain sedatives, which she later used to drug her husband before the attack. Muskan exploited Sahil’s grief over his late mother, convincing him that she had reincarnated and was guiding him to kill Saurabh.”
Muskan’s parents have also called for justice, and have stated that their daughter had made a “huge mistake”. Her father said: “The verdict, in this case, should come fast, and I don’t want anything less than capital punishment for her. What she did is very wrong. My son-in-law should get justice.”
Meanwhile, disturbing footage has emerged which shows Muskan and Saurabh dancing in a restaurant with their young daughter, during what is believed to have been the little girl’s birthday celebrations. Nobody watching the scene could have imagined what would happen next.
Do you have a story to share? Email me at [email protected]
READ MORE: Chilling moment naked porn star dances covered in victims’ blood after double killing