Meerut accused punctured spouse’s heart with knife, reveals postmortem

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Rajput's head was severed from the body, both hands were cut off from the wrist and his legs were bent backwards, suggesting an attempt to fit the body in a drum, the autopsy report disclosed. The cause of death has been attributed to shock and excessive bleeding.

After the murder, Muskan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla travelled to Himachal Pradesh's Kasol on March 10 and checked into a hotel by introducing themselves as husband and wife. They left on March 16, the hotel operator said, adding the accused duo's driver accompanied them.

They stayed in their hotel room the whole day, going out once a day in their car which was unusual, and had minimum interaction with the staffers who were not allowed to clean their room, he said. During check-out, they told the hotel operator that they had come from Manali and would return to Uttar Pradesh.

Senior Superintendent of Police Vipin Tada said the police would prioritise filing a chargesheet in the case as quickly as possible. “We will try to run the case in a fast-track court so that the accused get punishment as soon as possible," he said.

The gory details of the murder have attracted nationwide attention. Doctors who conducted the post-mortem said Rajput was stabbed in the heart with extreme force thrice, indicating a sustained and violent attack.

Superintendent of Police (City) Ayush Vikram Singh confirmed the post-mortem findings. “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," the officer said.

The medical team further detailed the gruesome attempt to conceal the body. “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 member of the post-mortem team disclosed. The drum had to be cut open and the hardened cement painstakingly removed to retrieve the body.

Rajput was allegedly drugged and then stabbed to death on March 4. The duo then went on a vacation to Himachal, all the while misleading Rajput's family by sending them messages from his phone. The matter was reported to the police on March 18, following which Muskan and Sahil were arrested.