A local court in Meerut has sentenced Muskaan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla to death for the murder of merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput last year. The pair had been convicted two weeks earlier, and the punishment was announced on Wednesday.
The case centred on a blue industrial plastic drum in which Rajput’s dismembered body was allegedly concealed using concrete and sand. After 126 hearings and statements from 22 witnesses, District Judge Arvind Kumar Mishra held that Rastogi and Shukla had conspired to kill Rajput and hide his remains inside the sealed drum.
The judge had previously observed that crimes of this nature generate fear across society. Before the sentencing, Rastogi’s parents told the court that Rajput was a “very good person” and said they would not object if the convicts received the death penalty. Rastogi’s family has not met her in prison.
Prosecution’s account of the murder
The police case states that Rastogi sedated her husband on March 3, 2025, after mixing a substance into his food at their home in Indra Nagar. Shukla arrived soon afterwards, and the prosecution said the two stabbed Rajput to death before cutting up his body in the bathroom.
Investigators alleged that the body parts were placed inside a large blue plastic drum to control the smell of decomposition. The container was then filled with a freshly prepared mixture of sand, water and cement and sealed.
Rastogi and Shukla allegedly left for Himachal Pradesh the following day. Rastogi also used Rajput’s mobile phone to send messages to his family, giving the impression that he was alive and travelling for work.
How the crime was discovered
On March 17, 2025, suspicious relatives visited the house with local authorities. Rajput and Rastogi’s six-year-old daughter had reportedly told neighbours, “Papa is in the drum.”
Police officials opened the sealed blue drum and recovered Rajput’s remains. Rastogi and Shukla were arrested two days later.
Evidence presented during the trial
The prosecution relied on circumstantial, technical and physical evidence to establish its case. Local shopkeepers testified that they had sold the blue plastic drum, cement bags, sand, cleavers and razors to Rastogi and Shukla before the killing.
Call detail records and mobile tower data placed Shukla at the residence around the time of the murder. The records also traced the pair’s movements together to hotel stays in Shimla and Manali in Himachal Pradesh.
Post-mortem findings confirmed that Rajput had died from stab injuries.
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