True Crime
A Meerut court sentenced Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla to death in the blue-drum murder of Saurabh Rajput.
The Times of India, The New Indian Express, and India Today reported that on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, District and Sessions Judge Arvind Kumar Mishra sentenced Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla to death for murdering merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput in March 2025 and concealing his dismembered remains in a cement-filled blue drum. Both had been convicted Sept. 30 after a roughly 13-month trial.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
A death sentence in India still needs High Court confirmation before it can be carried out. India Today reported the Allahabad High Court must confirm it. The conviction on Sept. 30 and today's capital sentences are court outcomes on the murder and evidence-destruction counts those outlets described.
The Times of India reported Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, that a Meerut district and sessions court sentenced Muskan Rastogi and her partner Sahil Shukla to death for murdering Rastogi's husband, merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput, then dismembering his body and sealing the remains in a blue plastic drum filled with cement. The New Indian Express and India Today reported the same outcome. Judge Arvind Kumar Mishra had convicted both on Sept. 30 after a trial outlets put at about 13 months, with India Today citing 126 hearings and 22 prosecution witnesses.
According to those outlets, Rajput was killed in early March 2025 after returning to Meerut from abroad. Prosecutors alleged Rastogi and Shukla drugged and stabbed him, packed the remains in the drum with cement and sand, then traveled in Himachal Pradesh. Relatives and police recovered the drum in mid-March; the pair were arrested about March 18. The Times of India reported fines under the murder and evidence-disappearance counts in addition to the capital sentences. Both appeared by video from jail for sentencing.
India Today reported that under Indian law the death sentences require confirmation by the Allahabad High Court. Rajput's mother, Renu Devi, was in court and had sought the death penalty after the conviction, The Times of India reported. Outlets described the prosecution theory as a "rarest of the rare" case. Those are the sentencing and confirmation steps reported Wednesday. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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