Muskan Rastogi posed as ‘dead mother’ on Snapchat, pretended to have anxiety; family says ‘she isn’t fit for society’

Muskan Rastogi, who allegedly killed her husband Saurabh Rajput with the help of her boyfriend Sahil Shukla in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, pretended to have anxiety, police said on Thursday. She also convinced Sahil to kill Saurabh by posing as Sahil's “dead mother” and speaking to him on Snapchat, a report cited police as saying.

“The [Snapchat] account was not in the name of Sahil's mother, but the messages were sent by Muskan in a way that she made him believe that his dead mother had reincarnated and was speaking to him,” Superintendent of Police (Meerut City) Ayush Vikram Singh was quoted by NDTV as saying.

He said Muskan used this as a means of controlling Sahil and, later, convincing him to kill her husband, Saurabh.

Saurabh Rajput, a Merchant Navy officer, was allegedly killed by his wife, Muskaan Rastogi, and Sahil Shukla on March 4. Muskan and Sahil had an extramarital affair.

The accused chopped Saurabh's body into 15 pieces and then sealed his body parts in a drum filled with cement.

Investigation revealed that Meerut-based Muskaan, 27, was plotting for months to murder her husband. The UP Police found out that Muskan had been planning to kill Saurabh since November last year.

"The entire plotting was done by Muskan, who hatched the murder plan in November," he said.

Snapchat and drugs

According to NDTV, Muskan's family alleged that she and Sahil regularly did drugs, and one reason they killed Saurabh was that he would "stop their drug sessions".

Muskan also exploited Sahil's drug dependence to manipulate him. She made an account on the social media messaging app Snapchat, convincing Sahil that his dead mother was speaking to him through the app.

Muskan Rastogi pretended to have anxiety

Officials told NDTV that Muskan bought two knives from a shop, telling the shopkeeper they were for cutting chicken. This happened just days before her husband's return from London, police said.

She had faked having anxiety to visit a doctor and obtain a prescription for pills to drug Saurabh before killing him, the report added.

"On February 22, she bought two knives for ₹800, saying she needed them to cut chicken. She also pretended to have anxiety and went to a doctor to get a prescription. She then looked up the names of two medicines online that she could use to render Saurabh unconscious and added them to the prescription so she could purchase them," the police official was quoted as saying.

The officer informed that Saurabh had returned from London on February 24. The next day, Muskan mixed the medicines in his alcohol, but he did not drink. Muskan and Sahil kept looking for an opportunity and stabbed Saurabh to death after drugging him on March 4.

Muskan 'not fit for society'

Accused Muskan Rastogi's father told ANI, "My daughter [Muskan] killed her husband [Saurabh]... She is not fit for society and is dangerous to everyone."

He also advised others not to take such steps and said Muskan should be hanged till death, "and if possible, it should be live."

Her mother, deeply distraught over the incident, said, "Saurabh was a good man. We demand justice, and we want her (Muskan) to be hanged till death."

During the questioning with police, Sahil Shukla confessed that on March 4, he and Muskan Rastogi stabbed Saurabh to death. "They dismembered the body, put it in a drum and sealed it with cement. The police have recovered the body and sent it for post-mortem," SP Ayush Vikram Singh told ANI.

The police said that the accused, Sahil and Muskan, have been arrested, and an FIR has been registered against them.

Further investigation is underway.