GUWAHATI: A court in Meerut on Wednesday, October 14, sentenced Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla to death for the murder of Rastogi’s husband, Saurabh Rajput, whose dismembered body was found concealed in a blue drum filled with cement in their home in March 2025.
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“Both have been sentenced to death for the crime,” advocate Krishan Kumar Dubey reportedly said.
The sentencing comes after a court held the couple guilty of the murder last month. District Judge Arvind Kumar Mishra delivered the verdict following 126 hearings and statements from 22 witnesses.
According to the prosecution, Rastogi and Shukla conspired to kill Rajput, a Merchant Navy officer, on March 3, 2025. Police said the accused dismembered his body and concealed the remains inside a blue industrial drum using cement and sand.
The duo was arrested following an investigation, during which police recovered the drum containing Rajput’s body parts.
During the trial, the prosecution presented circumstantial, technical and physical evidence against the accused. Local shopkeepers testified that they had sold a blue plastic drum, cement bags, sand, cleavers and razors to Rastogi and Shukla before the murder.
Call detail records and mobile tower locations were also presented to place Shukla at the residence around the time of the crime. Investigators further traced the movements of the two accused to hotel stays in Shimla and Manali in Himachal Pradesh. Post-mortem findings confirmed that Rajput had been stabbed to death.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the judge referred to the Mahabharata and observed that punishment is also a form of dharma. The court had earlier remarked that crimes of this nature create fear in society.
Both convicts appeared before the court through video conferencing from jail. Rajput’s mother, Renu Rajput, and his brother were present in the courtroom.
Earlier in the day, Muskan’s parents told the court that Rajput was a “very good person” and said they would not oppose a death sentence for the guilty. The family had not met Muskan in prison.
Following the sentencing, chants of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” were heard inside the courtroom, while celebrations broke out outside the court.
The case drew widespread attention after police recovered Rajput’s dismembered remains from the cement-filled blue drum in March 2025. The prosecution maintained that the evidence collected during the investigation established the involvement of both accused in the murder.
