Meerut: A local court in Meerut has sentenced Muskaan Rastogi and her lover, Sahil Shukla, to death for the brutal murder of merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput in one of Uttar Pradesh’s most shocking criminal cases. The verdict was delivered after an extensive trial involving 126 court hearings and testimonies from 22 witnesses. District Judge Arvind Kumar Mishra held that the two had conspired to murder Rajput before attempting to destroy evidence by concealing his dismembered body inside a blue plastic drum filled with cement, sand, and water. The court observed that the gruesome nature of the crime had created fear and concern in society.

According to the prosecution, the murder took place on March 3, 2025, when Muskaan allegedly mixed sedatives into her husband’s food at their residence. After he lost consciousness, Sahil Shukla arrived at the house, and together they allegedly stabbed Saurabh Rajput to death before dismembering his body in the bathroom. Investigators said the accused packed the body parts into a large blue industrial drum, sealed it with a concrete mixture to conceal the smell, and fled to Himachal Pradesh the following day. During their escape, Muskaan allegedly used her husband’s mobile phone to send messages to his family, falsely suggesting that he was alive and away on a business trip.

The crime came to light on March 17, 2025, after suspicious relatives visited the house along with local authorities. Investigators discovered the victim’s remains after cutting open the sealed blue drum, leading to the arrest of both accused two days later. During the trial, prosecutors presented circumstantial, technical, and forensic evidence, including purchase records for the drum, cement, and tools, mobile phone location data, hotel records, and post-mortem findings linking the accused to the crime. After examining the evidence, the court concluded that the case fell under the “rarest of rare” category and imposed the death penalty on both convicts.