’Blue drum’ murder case: Meerut court sentences wife, partner to death

New Delhi

A Meerut court on Wednesday sentenced Muskan Rastogi and her partner, Sahil Shukla, to death for murdering her husband, Saurabh Rajput, whose dismembered remains were found in a cement-filled plastic drum in March 2025. Saurabh, a merchant navy officer, was killed on March 3 last year, and the body was discovered two weeks later. District and Sessions Judge Arvind Kumar Mishra pronounced the sentence after convicting the duo of murder and destruction of evidence. The case, which drew widespread attention because of the brutality of the crime, saw more than 100 hearings and the examination of 22 prosecution witnesses. Prosecution lawyer K.K. Chaubey told reporters that the judge referred to the Mahabharata while explaining the punishment, observing that “justice required punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offence”. “Apart from the death sentence, the court also imposed fines totalling ₹70,000 on each convict for murder and the offence related to the disappearance of evidence,” Mr. Chaubey said. The two accused, who attended the proceedings via video conference, reportedly broke down after the verdict was announced. Lawyers present in the courtroom distributed sweets following the pronouncement. The detailed court order is awaited. The crime Saurabh, 35, returned to Meerut from London in late February 2025. According to the police investigation, when his family failed to trace him for several days, they approached the police, who recovered his dismembered remains from a cement-filled drum at the house he shared with Muskan. The couple’s six-year-old daughter allegedly pointed to the container when asked about her father’s whereabouts. In the chargesheet filed in May 2025, the police claimed that Muskan and Sahil drugged Saurabh before stabbing him to death and dismembering his body. They allegedly placed his remains in the drum, sealed it with cement and sand, and left for a vacation in Himachal Pradesh. The police used industrial equipment to break through the hardened cement and retrieve the remains. The police filed a nearly 1,000-page chargesheet detailing the evidence against the duo, including forensic reports, call records, CCTV footage and witness statements. Muskan, who was pregnant at the time of the crime, later gave birth to a girl while in jail.