Meerut drum case: Ex-merchant navy officer's wife Muskan Rastogi plans to study law in jail

MEERUT: Muskan Rastogi, 28, the main accused in the murder of her husband, ex-merchant navy officer, has approached the jail administration in Meerut expressing her desire to pursue legal studies so that she can represent herself in court.

Muskan, along with her lover Sahil Shukla, allegedly killed her husband Saurabh Rajput, 35, and the dismembered body was found inside a sealed, cement-filled blue drum at his house in Meerut's Brahmpuri locality on March 19. He was drugged and murdered on the night of March 4. Police arrested them after they returned from a trip to Himachal Pradesh. The two were lodged in the city's Chaudhary Charan Singh District Jail after their bail pleas were rejected by a court.

The 28-year-old inmate claimed that she did not receive adequate support from her advocate and, hence, is willing to fight her own case, said a jail official. The official pointed out that she has not studied beyond Class 8 and doesn't have a senior secondary certificate - an essential prerequisite to pursue legal studies in India.The jail officials have now sought the process to pursue legal studies, and it was said that she must first pass her senior secondary before appearing in LLB.

IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University) offers a range of courses in the jail, they said.Jail superintendent Viresh Raj Sharma said, "Since Muskan was lodged in jail, no one from her family has visited her, while Sahil's maternal grandma and brother met him. Now, Muskan has sought the process to study legal education and we are thinking about it. If she wants to study, jail authorities will provide all necessary resources to her."A detailed chargesheet of over 1,000 pages was filed by the police against the duo in court earlier this month. Muskan was later found pregnant during a routine medical examination.