Muskaan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla, sentenced to death on Wednesday for the murder of Rastogi’s husband, merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput, in Meerut, broke down and “cried uncontrollably” after the verdict, officers told NDTV. Both have stopped eating since the sentence was pronounced, according to jail sources.
District Judge Arvind Kumar Mishra pronounced the sentence on Wednesday, two weeks after convicting the pair. The death sentence also changes what the two will wear in jail. After the verdict, Rastogi and Shukla asked jail officials what would happen next. The court held that Rastogi and Shukla conspired to kill Rajput and concealed his dismembered body inside a blue industrial drum using concrete and sand. They then sealed the remains in a blue plastic drum filled with a mix of sand, water and cement, as per the FIR. The pair fled to Himachal Pradesh the next day. Rastogi used Rajput’s phone to text his family, making it appear that he was alive and travelling on business.
The trial ran through 126 hearings, and 22 witnesses gave statements. She sedated Rajput by lacing his food at their Indra Nagar home on March 3, 2025, according to the police case.
Shukla will wear a white kurta-pyjama, while Rastogi will wear a cream-coloured saree or suit, the sources said. Officials told them they could appeal to the High Court, and they have been informed of that option as part of the legal process ahead. The prosecution said Shukla arrived shortly afterwards, and the two stabbed Rajput to death and dismembered his body.
“The judge cited references from the Mahabharata, affirming that the court would perform its duty, as ‘dharma also means punishing those who commit wrongs’. Despite significant efforts by the defence, we have prevailed. Muskaan Rastogi’s family never met her in prison.
the court referred to the Bhagavad Gita, according to the lawyer representing Rajput’s side While pronouncing the sentence. Saurabh’s family members did not say anything,” the lawyer said. Earlier in the day, Rastogi’s parents told the court that Rajput was a “very good person” and that if their daughter Muskaan were sentenced to death, “we will not protest”.
