A court in Meerut on Wednesday sentenced Muskan Rastogi and her partner Sahil Shukla to death for the murder of her husband Saurabh Rajput, whose body was dismembered and cemented inside a blue drum. Rajput, a merchant navy officer, was killed on March 3, 2025, and his body was recovered two weeks later, in a case that made national headlines.
They had eaten less than usual at dinner the previous night and at breakfast on Wednesday morning, and had not slept properly. Rastogi and Shukla became emotional after hearing the verdict. The investigation led police to recover Rajput’s dismembered body from a blue drum kept inside the house. Rastogi allegedly laced the food with a sedative. After Rajput became unconscious, Shukla was allegedly called to the house. The convicts allegedly first attempted to place the body in a briefcase, but abandoned the plan after its hook broke. The body was then placed in a bed before being concealed in the blue drum.
District judge Arvind Kumar Mishra pronounced the verdict after 126 hearings in a 13-month trial, court officials said. The case came to light after Rajput’s brother, Bablu, lodged a missing-person complaint on March 18, 2025, expressing suspicion about Rastogi and Shukla.
Both convicts appeared anxious ahead of the verdict, according to senior jail superintendent Viresh Raj Sharma. Both told the court they had nothing to say, Sharma said. Then station house officer of Brahmpuri police station, police registered an FIR and began investigating Rajput’s disappearance, according to investigating officer Ramakant Pachauri. Rajput had brought ‘kofta’ curry from his mother Renu Devi’s house on the night of the murder, according to the police probe. Police said Rajput was subsequently murdered and his body dismembered in the washroom.
They were produced separately before the court through video conferencing from jail and given an opportunity to present their views.
During the hearing, the prosecution, represented by district government counsel Krishna Kumar Chaubey, sought the death penalty, citing the brutality of the murder, the dismemberment of the victim’s body and attempts to conceal it in a blue drum using cement. He argued that Rastogi and Shukla had conspired to murder Rajput and that the manner of the crime warranted the harshest punishment. The defence, represented by advocate Rekha Jain, urged the court to show leniency, citing the future and upbringing of Rastogi’s two daughters, aged seven years and 10 months.
