The accused in the infamous Meerut murder of Saurabh Rajput, his wife Muskan Rastogi and her paramour Sahil Shukla, are reportedly under treatment for drug withdrawal symptoms at a de-addiction centre in the Charan Singh district jail.

The duo allegedly chopped off the body of the deceased and kept it in a dusty cement-filled plastic drum in Uttar Pradesh’s Indiranagar. They were arrested after Muskan  Rastogi disclosed the crime she had committed with the help of her Sahil Shukla to her stepmother.

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According to the jail authorities, the accused showed signs of drug addiction in Meerut’s Chaudhary Charan Singh district jail where they are lodged in separate barracks.”It was found that they are drug addicts…There were withdrawal symptoms…They are being given medicines for withdrawal symptoms. They are being treated through de-addiction centres and counselling is being given to them; they are also being sent for Yoga and meditation,” Senior Jail Superintendent Viresh Raj Sharma told a news agency.

Sharma said since Muskan’s family refused to fight her case she has been provided a government defence counsel on her demand. “Yesterday, Muskan approached me for a government defence counsel as her family is so upset with her that they won’t fight her case. We are moving the court with a plea to grant her request as it is her right as an accused,” the jail superintendent said.

What’s all the more distressing in the case is that the parents of Muskan have demanded the death penalty for their daughter, saying she has lost the right to live after committing the crime. “My daughter (Muskan) killed her husband (Saurabh)… She is not fit for society and is dangerous to everyone. I would advise others not to take such steps… She should be hanged till death, and if possible,” he added.

According to some reports, Muskan wanted to be lodged in the same barrack as her lover but as per the jail manual, she was lodged separately. Hence there is no contact between both the accused.

“They were told that as per the system in jail, there is no contact between barracks for men and barracks for women; that they both are separate barracks. So, they were lodged separately” Sharma added.