A marriage, a secret affair, a brutal end: Inside the Sambhal killing that unfolded piece by piece

MEERUT: In a case reminiscent of Meerut’s infamous “blue drum” murder, a Sambhal shoe trader was allegedly killed, chopped and dumped piece by piece by his wife and her lover, police said on Monday.

Rahul Kumar, 32, was allegedly murdered after he caught his wife Ruby and her lover Gaurav Kumar, a neighbour, in a compromising position at their home in Chandausi on the night of November 17. Both accused were arrested following the gruesome crime.

The brutality and execution mirrored the Meerut case, in which a woman named Muskan and her lover Sahil stabbed ex-merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput to death on March 4, then dismembered his body, packed the remains in a drum sealed with cement, and went on a holiday.

Sambhal superintendent of police Krishan Kant Bishnoi said, “On Nov 18, Ruby (30), a housewife, filed a missing complaint, citing that her husband, 32, had gone missing. On Dec 15, we found a torso. The hands and legs were missing. Later, we found a polythene packet containing a human head in a drain. While examining the body parts, we saw the name ‘Rahul’ inked on the chest.”

Bishnoi added: “We called Ruby for identification of the body parts, but she refused and disappeared, raising suspicion. Called for questioning, she confessed.”

“In the night Rahul caught me and Gaurav in a compromising position, he threatened that he would defame me and throw me out of the house. At that moment, I told Gaurav to finish him off, and he struck Rahul on the head with an iron rod, while I hit him with a metal shoe-hammer, killing him on the spot,” Ruby said.

“On Nov 18, we brought a grinder tool and cut his body into parts and put these in bags. On the same day, we hired a vehicle and dumped one bag containing the severed head and legs, along with Rahul’s mobile phone, into the Ganga at Rajghat. Later that night, we threw the other bag in a drain and burnt Rahul’s lower garment, and the blood-stained clothes of Gaurav and mine. We then hid the grinder tool in the nearby bushes.”

Police said the couple had been married for 12 years and have an 11-year-old son, who told cops that their parents used to fight over a man who frequently visited their house.

An FIR has been lodged under BNS section 103 (murder), 238 (causing disappearance of evidence, or giving false information), and 61 (criminal conspiracy).