"He Loved Blindly, Our Daughter Was Problem": Murdered Meerut Man's In-Laws

The parents of Muskaan Rastogi, arrested for allegedly murdering Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rajput with her lover's help, want her to be hanged till death and stress that they are firmly with Saurabh's family in their fight for justice.

According to police, Saurabh Rajput, a Merchant Navy officer working for a US-based company, came home last month for his six-year-old daughter's birthday. On March 4, his wife Muskaan and her lover Sahil Shukla stabbed him to death, chopped up his body in 15 pieces and sealed them with cement in a plastic drum.

Following the murder, Muskaan and Sahil left for the hills and used Saurabh's phone to post pictures to mislead people. The grisly murder came to light after Saurabh's family, unable to reach him over the phone, filed a complaint with the police and Muskaan and Sahil were grilled. They confessed to the crime and have been arrested. The cement-filled drum was drilled through and pieces of Saurabh's body were recovered and sent for autopsy.

NDTV spoke to Muskaan's parents Pramod Kumar Rastogi and Kavita Rastogi at their Meerut home and the couple made no attempts to defend their daughter. On the contrary, they said she must receive the harshest punishment for doing this to Saurabh, who loved her "blindly".

"We Got Her Arrested"

Muskaan came to meet her parents yesterday after returning from the hills. "She confessed that she had killed Saurabh and we immediately took her to the police station. She told us, 'Mummy, we killed Saurabh'," said Muskaan's mother Kavita Rastogi. She said Saurabh was "blindly in love" with Muskaan. "Our daughter was the problem. She got him separated from his family. And she has now done this."

The Rastogis said they are firmly with Saurabh's family. "That's why we got her arrested. They should get justice. He (Saurabh) put everything at stake, left his parents, their property worth crores. And she got him (killed). He was our son too," she said.

Asked what punishment they want for their daughter, the couple replied, with teary eyes, "She should be hanged. She has lost the right to live."

The Drugs Angle

Muskaan and Sahil were into drugs and killed Saurabh because he would have stopped their meet-ups, her parents said. Asked what could be the motive behind killing Saurabh, her father replied, "She told us that her friend (Sahil) feared that Saurabh would stop their drug sessions."

Mother Kavita said Saurabh always supported Muskaan. "When he left for London, we told him she could stay with us. Muskaan didn't want to because she did not want restrictions. And Saurabh supported her. He was in London and our daughter lost nearly 10 kg. We thought she was upset he was away. We did not know that Sahil was pushing her to do drugs," she said. The six-year-old daughter of Saurabh and Muskaan is now with the Rastogis.

The Beginning, And The Cracks

Saurabh and Muskaan married in 2016. It was a love marriage. Eager to spend more time with his wife, Saurabh quit his Merchant Navy job. However, the love marriage and his abrupt decision to leave the job did not sit well with his family. This led to friction at home and Saurabh decided to move out. He and Muskaan moved to a rented house.

In 2019, Muskaan and Saurabh had a daughter. But the joy was short-lived. Saurabh came to know that Muskaan was having an affair with his friend Sahil. This led to tension between the couple and even the divorce option was considered. Eventually, Saurabh stepped back, thinking of his daughter's future. He decided to rejoin the Merchant Navy. In 2023, he left the country for work. Back at home, Muskaan and Sahil came closer, an intimacy that eventually led them to plot a gruesome murder.