A Meerut court on Wednesday (October 14, 2026) sentenced Muskan Rastogi and her partner Sahil Shukla to death for the murder of Saurabh Rajput, Rastogi’s husband, whose dismembered remains were recovered from a cement-filled blue plastic drum in March 2025.
District and Sessions Judge Arvind Kumar Mishra pronounced the sentence after convicting the duo of murder and destruction of evidence.
The case, which drew widespread attention because of the brutality of the crime, saw more than 100 hearings and the examination of 22 prosecution witnesses.
Prosecution lawyer K.K. Chaubey told reporters that the Judge referred to the Mahabharata while explaining the punishment, observing that justice required punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offence.
Apart from the death sentence, the court imposed fines totalling ₹70,000 on each convict for murder and the offence related to the disappearance of evidence, Mr Chaubey said.
The two accused, who attended the proceedings through video conferencing, reportedly broke down after the verdict was announced. Lawyers present in the courtroom distributed sweets following the pronouncement.
The detailed court order is awaited.
Rajput, 35, a merchant navy officer, had returned to Meerut from London in late February 2025. His family approached the police after failing to trace him for several days.
According to the investigation, the police recovered his remains from a drum at the house where he lived with Rastogi. It was alleged that the couple’s six-year-old daughter pointed towards the container when asked about her father’s whereabouts.
Police claimed that Rastogi and Shukla drugged Rajput before stabbing him to death and dismembering his body. The remains were placed inside the drum and sealed with cement and sand. The accused allegedly left for a vacation in Himachal Pradesh after the killing.
Police used industrial equipment to break through the hardened cement and recover the remains.
In May 2025, a chargesheet running to nearly 1,000 pages, containing forensic reports, call records, CCTV footage and witness statements was filed in the court accusing the duo for the crime.
Rastogi later gave birth to a girl while in jail. She had been pregnant at the time of the crime.
