A Meerut court on Wednesday sentenced Muskan Rastogi and her partner Sahil Shukla to death for the murder of her husband, Saurabh Rajput, whose body was dismembered and cemented inside a blue drum. District Judge Arvind Kumar Mishra pronounced the verdict after 126 hearings over a 13-month trial.
The judge awarded the death penalty on the basis of scientific and circumstantial evidence, and categorised the case as “rarest of rare.” He held that the premeditated nature of the killing and the attempt to conceal the body warranted capital punishment. Referring to the Mahabharata, he observed that punishment is also a form of dharma and plays an important role in maintaining order in society.
Muskan and Sahil were convicted on 30 September for murder and for attempting to conceal Rajput’s body. The court also imposed fines of Rs 50,000 under Section 302 and Rs 20,000 under Section 238A, according to advocate Krishan Kumar Dubey.
The case
Rajput was a 29-year-old former Merchant Navy officer. The accused are his wife Muskan and her schoolmate-turned-partner Sahil. The trial involved testimony from 22 prosecution witnesses. According to the prosecution, Rajput was killed on 3 March 2025, and his dismembered remains were placed in a blue drum that was then filled with cement. The case drew national attention for its grisly details.
The prosecution relied on circumstantial, forensic and technical evidence. Shopkeepers reportedly testified about selling items including the drum, cement, sand and cutting tools.
In court
Muskan and Sahil were produced separately before the court by video conferencing. Muskan has two daughters, aged seven years and ten months. According to the senior jail superintendent, both appeared restless before the sentencing and had eaten very little and slept poorly. He said Muskan had been asking for three or four days to meet her elder daughter. Rajput’s mother, aunt, brother and other relatives were in court when the sentence was read out.
Reactions
Rajput’s mother, Renu Devi, welcomed the verdict. She said the family was deeply satisfied that both had been sentenced to death and had received the justice they were seeking. The family said the emotional scars remain.
Muskan’s parents reportedly submitted a written statement saying they would not oppose a death sentence for their daughter. Dubey called a woman being sentenced to death a precedent-setting event.
The sentence is not final. A death sentence handed down by a sessions court must be confirmed by the High Court before it can be carried out. The convicts can also challenge the verdict in the higher courts, though the reports I found did not say whether they plan to.