Meerut:

Muskaan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla, accused of brutally murdering her husband Saurabh Rajput and hiding his body parts in a cement-sealed drum, wanted to stay together in jail but were told this was not possible. Sources in Meerut’s Chaudhary Charan Singh district jail have said the two had told the jail authorities that they wanted to stay in the same barrack, but the officers cited the jail manual and said this could not be allowed. The two are in adjoining shared cells.

According to prison sources, Sahil has been experiencing withdrawal symptoms in jail and looked restless. Both Muskaan and Sahil do not speak to other prisoners and no one has come to meet them yet. The two were also counselled in the de-addiction centre at the prison and jail staff have been asked to keep an eye on them. The sources said Muskaan did not eat anything on her first day at the jail, but has been having her meals since then.

The two are currently in judicial custody after their arrest last week. Sources in Meerut police have said they will seek their custody for detailed questioning as part of the investigation.

Muskaan and Sahil were arrested last week for allegedly murdering her husband Saurabh Rajput, a former Merchant Navy officer who had been working in London for the past two years. Saurabh had come home last month to celebrate the birthday and his six-year-old daughter. According to police, Muskaan drugged Saurabh on March 4 and then stabbed him to death. She and Sahil then chopped up his body into 15 pieces and sealed them in a plastic drum with wet cement. The two then left for Himachal Pradesh, where they used Saurabh’s phone to post pictures on social media to mislead his friends and family. Later, Muskaan told her parents that she and Sahil had killed Saurabh.

Saurabh and Muskaan had a love marriage in 2016 and have a six-year-old daughter. Muskaan’s relationship with Saurabh’s family was strained and the couple had moved out to a rented home. Around 2019, Saurabh found out about his wife’s affair with Sahil. He had also considered divorce, but stepped back thinking of his daughter’s future. He had been working in London, while Muskaan stayed in Meerut. According to Muskaan’s parents, she and Sahil killed Saurabh because they feared he would put an end to their drug sessions. Muskaan’s parents have said Saurabh always supported her and must get justice. Saurabh’s family has alleged Muskaan married him for money and they did not like her from the beginning.