‘Papa drum mein hai’: Did Merchant Navy officer’s daughter witness the murder?

The horrific killing of the Merchant Navy officer in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, has revealed an episode of betrayal, meticulous planning, and brutal execution.

Days after Saurabh Rajput’s body was found in a cemented drum, it is learnt that his six-year-old daughter was aware of his murder and what followed.

According to reports, the daughter kept telling neighbours, “Papa drum mein hai (Dad is in the drum).”

Let’s take a look.

‘Papa is in the drum’

Renu Devi, who was having a hard time dealing with the grisly death of her son, described how pieces of his body were found inside the drum.

“They (Muskan Rastogi and her lover, Sahil Shukla) 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 (Muskan) what was in it, she replied it was full of junk.”

The mother of the deceased claimed that as the labourers opened the drum’s lid, a foul stench permeated the air.

“They called the police. By the time the cops came, she (Muskan) had reached her parents’ place.”

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Renu Devi also said, “She (Rajput’s daughter) might have seen something. Some people said she was saying, ‘Papa is in the drum’. They (Rastogi and Shukla) removed her from there because she must have seen something.”

However, SP City Ayush Vikram Singh dismissed this claim, saying, “When Rastogi was telling the story of the incident to the family members, the girl might have been present there. The girl did not know anything (beforehand) about this.”

Renu Devi also alleged that Rastogi’s mother knew everything prior.

“Her mother knew everything prior…But to mislead things, she (Rastogi’s mother) said that her daughter told them that she had killed him (Rajput)… The mother met some lawyer and reached court,” she alleged.

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Strained ties

Rastogi had a tense connection with her in-laws right from the start.

The two tied the knot in 2016 against their parents’ approval.

Soon after the marriage, Rajput even left his job in the Merchant Navy to spend more time with his wife, which upset his family.

The couple eventually moved to a rented property as a result of their dispute at home.

According to Rajput’s family members, Rastogi married her for the money and that Rajput trusted her blindly.

In 2019, they had a daughter. However, the joy was short-lived because soon Rajput learnt about his wife’s extramarital affair with Sahil Shukla.

The tensions between the couple even prompted them to consider divorce. Eventually, Rajput stepped back, thinking of his daughter’s future.

He re-joined Navy and left the country for work in 2023, the report claimed.

The murder

The body of Saurabh Rajput, a 29-year-old Merchant Navy employee, was found on Tuesday in his rented apartment in Brahmpuri’s Indiranagar Phase 2.

According to NDTV, Rajput had returned from London on February 24 to celebrate his daughter’s sixth birthday on February 28 and had been missing since March 4.

Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ayush Vikram Singh said, “Police received a tip-off about a foul smell emanating from the victim’s house. Upon investigation, we found his body chopped into multiple pieces and sealed inside a water drum filled with cement, presumable to hasten decomposition.”

The victim’s wife and accused, Rastogi, and her lover Shukla, were arrested on Tuesday and remanded in 14-day judicial custody on Wednesday. The same day in the evening, Rajput’s body was cremated.

Rastogi had been allegedly plotting to kill Rajput since November. Days before her husband’s return, on February 22, she had bought two knives for Rs 800 and told the storekeeper that she would use them to cut chicken. She also had faked anxiety to a doctor and obtained the medications she would use to put him to sleep before killing him. Ultimately, on March 4, Rastogi and Shukla drugged him and then stabbed him to death.

According to Rastogi’s family members, she and Shukla were habitual drug users, and they may have killed Rajput because of that.

The accused’s father said, “She told us that her friend (Shukla) feared that Rajput would stop their drug sessions.”

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.”

The recent case is a stark reminder of the murder of television executive Neeraj Grover, who was killed by Kannada actor Maria Susairaj and her fiancé, Lieutenant Emile Jerome Mathew, who was a naval officer. The killing had made headlines largely because the victim’s body was chopped into about 300 pieces.

With inputs from agencies