LUCKNOW: A mother of two and her paramour are to hang for murdering her husband in Meerut. The chilling words of her six-year-old daughter—her father was inside the blue drum in the house—helped seal their fate.
On Wednesday, a Meerut court sentenced Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla to death for murdering Saurabh Rajput, a merchant navy officer, and concealing his dismembered remains in a blue plastic drum.
Rajput was killed on March 3, 2025, but the murder came to light only two weeks later. The drum, packed with Rajput’s body parts and sealed with a mixture of sand, water and cement to suppress the stench of decomposition, was meant to hide the crime. Instead, it became the crucial link in the investigation that led to the couple’s arrest and conviction.
District judge Arvind Kumar Mishra pronounced the sentence after a 13-month trial involving 126 hearings and testimony from 22 prosecution witnesses. The court had convicted Muskan and Sahil on September 30. The prosecution sought death penalty, arguing that the crime was the “rarest of the rare”.
According to the prosecution, Muskan drugged her 35-year-old husband by lacing his food. She then called Sahil home. They stabbed Rajput to death and dismembered his body in the bathroom. The next day, Muskan and Sahil fled to Himachal and used her husband’s mobile phone to send text messages to his relatives.
The deception lasted until March 17, when suspicious relatives visited the house. By then, the couple’s six-year-old daughter had told neighbours that her father was inside the drum.
Murder most foul
Feb 24, 2025: Saurabh Rajput returns from London
March 3: Muskan, Sahil drug and stab Saurabh to death
March 17: Police recover body remains from the drum, duo arrested
Aug. ’25 to Sep. ’26: Fast-track trial conducted over 126 hearings