The six-year-old daughter of Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rajput, allegedly murdered by his wife Muskaan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla, kept telling neighbours, “Papa drum mein hai”, Saurabh’s mother Renu Devi has said. The claim chillingly suggests that the child was aware of the murder and what followed.

Saurabh Rajput, who was in his hometown Meerut on a break to celebrate his daughter’s sixth birthday, was murdered on March 4. His wife Muskaan and her lover Sahil chopped up the body into 15 pieces and buried them under wet cement in a drum, police have said.

Struggling to cope with the horrifying death of her young son, Renu Devi shared how pieces of his body were recovered from the plastic drum. “They (Muskan and Sahil) murdered my son on March 4 and went for a trip. The house owner had earlier told her to vacate the room for renovation. When they came back, he sent labourers to vacate the room. They could not lift the drum. When they asked her (Muskaan) what was in it, she replied it was full of junk.”

#WATCH | Meerut, UP | Saurabh Rajput Murder case | Mother of deceased Saurabh Rajput says, “They (Muskan and her partner Sahil) murdered my son, and after that she went for a trip…She locked the body in the room…the owner of the house had asked them (Saurabh and Muskan) to… https://t.co/QyeUSKIwcu pic.twitter.com/hgs3tLfMsk

— ANI (@ANI) March 19, 2025

Renu Devi said a stench filled the air when the labourers opened the drum’s lid. “They called the police. By the time the cops came, she (Muskaan) had reached her parents’ place.”

Earlier, Muskaan’s mother Kavita Rastogi had told NDTV that Muskaan had confessed to them that she had killed Saurabh and that they immediately took her to the police.

Renu Devi, however, alleged that Muskaan’s parents were trying to mislead and that her mother knew about the crime beforehand. “They must have consulted a lawyer, so they went to the police station.”

The heartbroken mother said in an emotional outburst that besides Muskaan and Sahil, all her family members must be hanged to death.

Asked if Saurabh’s six-year-old daughter knew about his death, “She might have seen something. Some people said she was saying, ‘Papa is in the drum’. She must have seen something. That’s why they removed her from there.”

Strained Ties

Muskaan’s relationship with Saurabh’s family was strained from the beginning. The two had a love marriage in 2016. Eager to spend more time with his wife, Saurabh quit his Merchant Navy job. The marriage and his abrupt decision to leave the job did not sit well with Saurabh’s

family. This led to friction at home and Saurabh and Muskaan shifted to a rented house. Saurabh’s family has alleged that Muskaan married Saurabh for money and that he trusted her blindly.

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.

Muskaan’s Parents Want Her Hanged

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 Rastogis have said Saurabh should get justice. “Our daughter was the problem. She got him separated from his family. And she has now done this.” 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.”

Indian-Canadian actor Lisa Ray has slammed Air India for denying a medical waiver for her ailing father despite providing a doctor’s letter. Sharing her ordeal on social media, she said she had to cancel her travel since her 92-year-old father was unwell, but her cancellation fee was not waived. The Tata-owned carrier said it is looking into the matter.

The 52-year-old actor, who had booked her ticket through a third-party travel agent, shared a response from them saying no waiver was available. Sources say she had a non-refundable ticket due to which the agent had refused her the waiver, and not the airline.

“Here we go again @airindia. My father is 92, unwell and I have to cancel travel due to his ailing condition. Submitted doctors’ letter and the waiver was denied? How is that possible? Where is the empathy from an airline that is claiming to care about passengers?” asked Ms Ray.

In response to the query, Air India asked Ms Ray to share her email address and wished a speedy recovery to her father.

“Dear Ms Ray, we empathize with your concern and wish your father a speedy recovery. Please help us with the email address from which you’ve written to us or the case ID (if any) via DM. We’ll look into it,” said Air India.

Sources suggest the airline had offered a date change, but she denied it. 

Ms Ray, who had starred in the 2005 Hindi movie Water, posted a reply from her travel agent saying no medical waiver was available. In the mail trail, Ms Ray had flagged her father’s hospitalisation and said that she had attached a medical certificate.

The international aviation industry works on the premise of different fare classes – fully refundable, non-refundable, and partially refundable. Based on which fare class was opted, passengers become eligible for a refund – that too within a certain period ahead of departure.

Ms Ray’s criticism follows a list of high-profile passengers who had slammed the airline over the past few months for various reasons.

In February, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was allotted a “broken” seat on a flight from Bhopal to Delhi. When he questioned the staff, he was told the management had been informed earlier about the condition of the seat, the minister had alleged.

Last November, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram had flagged a flight delay and accused its new management of incompetence. “I regret that there has been practically no improvement since the management changed hands from the government to the private sector,” he had said pointing to its takeover by the Tata Group.

A month earlier, actor Tillotama Shome had slammed the airline for not notifying the passengers about an 8.5-hour delay on a Mumbai-London flight. “Upon contacting AI, all they can say is sorry. Zero accountability and no solutions offered,” she had said.

In December, a Delhi-based journalist had flagged an 18-hour flight delay that left her stranded in Italy’s Milan. It was “nothing short of a nightmare”, she said, adding that the delay made her miss an important part of her sister’s wedding.

Ricky Kej, an Indian-American Grammy-winning composer, had publicly blasted Air India at least on two different occasions for downgrading him from business class and refusing to offer a refund. He had said he faced issues with the airline at least five times in the past and called it a “terrible airline”, but said he would keep giving feedback.

Air India regretted the “inconvenience” caused to him and said it takes “feedback seriously”.

Fahim Khan, seen as the mastermind behind the Nagpur riots, was arrested in a pre-dawn raid. The son of a cycle repair shop owner, Khan is linked to the Minorities Democratic Party. His arrest follows the eruption of violence and his complaint against Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists.