{
  "type": "article",
  "title": "Meerut Blue Drum Murder: Wife and Schoolmate Sentenced to Death for Dismembering Man and Concreting Body",
  "summary": "A Meerut court has awarded the death penalty to Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla for murdering Saurabh Rajput, dismembering his remains, and sealing them inside a cement-filled plastic drum.",
  "content": "A local court in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, has sentenced Muskan Rastogi and her schoolmate Sahil Shukla, also known as Mohit, to death for the gruesome murder of Muskan's husband, Saurabh Rajput. The murder, which came to light in March 2025, involved chopping the victim's body into pieces and packing the remains into a blue plastic drum sealed with concrete. The court convicted both individuals on 30 September 2026 for murder and destruction of evidence, handing down the capital sentence on 14 October 2026 alongside fines of ₹50,000 each for murder and ₹20,000 each for concealing evidence.\n\nA Childhood Romance That Strained Family Ties\nThe events leading up to the crime trace back more than a decade. Muskan's association with Saurabh began around 2011–2012, when she was roughly 11 years old. At the time, she was residing with her grandfather, who practiced astrology in the Brahmpuri locality of Meerut. Saurabh frequently accompanied his mother to the residence for astrological consultations, leading to a bond between the two children. As the years progressed, their relationship faced fierce resistance from both households, prompting repeated elopements.\n\nIn 2016, while Muskan was studying in Class 9, the pair eloped again. Her mother, Kavita, approached the police with an allegation that Saurabh's relatives had abducted a minor girl. The families eventually reached an understanding that marriage would only be considered once Muskan attained adulthood. Kavita later recounted that Muskan had once vanished in the afternoon and remained untraceable for two days before police located the couple and brought them back. Despite warnings that Saurabh's family would never welcome her, Muskan remained adamant.\n\nAs soon as both reached the age of 18, Muskan slipped out of her house at 5 am while her family slept, and the two married. Saurabh's relatives disowned him immediately following the wedding, forcing the newlyweds into rented accommodations. Seeing that Saurabh had abandoned his own household to stand by Muskan, her maternal family gradually warmed to him. During the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Saurabh lost his employment, Muskan's family stepped in to provide financial relief.\n\nReconnection With a Classmate and Marital Discord\nSaurabh eventually secured employment with the Merchant Navy and relocated to London. During his absence, Muskan crossed paths again with Sahil Shukla. The two had been classmates up to Class 8 at Vivekanand School in Brahmpuri before drifting apart. In 2019, Sahil initiated contact through a school alumni WhatsApp group. With Saurabh working overseas, the former classmates rekindled their connection.\n\nMuskan had grown resentful over Saurabh's alcohol consumption. As her intimacy with Sahil deepened, Sahil sought greater involvement with her and introduced her to intoxicants. The couple's young daughter, Pihu, spent considerable time living with her maternal grandparents, affording Muskan extended periods to host Sahil at the residence without her family's knowledge. Saurabh eventually became aware of the extramarital relationship upon returning from London to Meerut in February 2025.\n\nThe Night of 3 March: Poisoning, Assault, and the Cement Drum\nThe prosecution established that the murder was carried out on the night of 3 March 2025. Muskan laced Saurabh's dinner with a sedative. Once he lapsed into unconsciousness, Sahil entered the house. The pair assaulted Saurabh using edged weapons, inflicted fatal injuries, and proceeded to sever his body into parts. To contain decomposition odors and prevent discovery, they stuffed the dismembered remains into a blue plastic drum and filled the interior with a heavy mixture of cement, sand, and water.\n\nFollowing the crime, Muskan and Sahil fled the city, travelling to tourist destinations in Himachal Pradesh, including the Shimla-Manali belt. To delay suspicion, Muskan operated Saurabh's mobile handset to dispatch messages to his relatives, creating the illusion that he was alive and occupied with professional duties elsewhere.\n\nUncovering the Crime: 'Papa Is in the Drum'\nGrowing anxious over their inability to contact Saurabh directly, his relatives approached the house on 17 March 2025 alongside local officials. Inside the premises, authorities discovered the sealed plastic drum. Upon forcing it open, investigators uncovered Saurabh's preserved remains. Acting on a complaint from the victim's brother, law enforcement apprehended Muskan and Sahil on 18 March 2025.\n\nA chilling detail emerged from Saurabh's mother, Renu Devi, who noted that the couple's six-year-old daughter, Pihu, had repeatedly told neighborhood residents, 'Papa drum mein hai' (Papa is in the drum). Prior to the police discovery, the landlord had dispatched laborers to clear the room for planned renovation work; the workers found the drum too heavy to budge, at which point Muskan had claimed it contained useless scrap.\n\nForensic Proof, 22 Witnesses, and 126 Hearings\nBecause the homicide lacked direct eyewitnesses, prosecutors assembled a chain of circumstantial evidence to establish culpability. Crucial testimony came from local merchants who identified selling the blue drum, cement, masonry sand, and cutting implements to the accused. Autopsy findings confirmed extensive trauma inflicted by sharp-edged instruments.\n\nInvestigators corroborated the timeline using call detail records and cell tower location data, placing Sahil at the residence during the hours of the assault. Travel documentation and hotel records from Himachal Pradesh confirmed the movements of both individuals immediately post-incident. The police submitted a chargesheet exceeding 1,000 pages. Over the course of 126 courtroom hearings, 22 prosecution witnesses testified. While defense attorneys argued the absence of direct eyewitnesses rendered the charges unproven, the bench determined that the physical and electronic evidence formed an unbroken chain of guilt.\n\nMother's Unanswered Question and Legal Recourse\nSpeaking after the sentence was handed down, Saurabh's mother, Renu Rajput, expressed lingering grief, stating that while the court had established guilt, she remained tormented by why Muskan had chosen to kill her son. During sentencing, the judge touched upon concepts of dharma and references from the Mahabharata to outline the gravity of the punishment.\n\nUnder Indian criminal procedure, a trial court's death sentence cannot be executed without confirmation from the High Court. Both convicts intend to file appeals challenging the ruling before the Allahabad High Court. The appellate bench will review the trial records and findings before determining whether to uphold, reduce, or overturn the capital punishment.\n\nCustody Dilemma Over Child Born in Prison\nThe tragedy leaves complicated questions regarding Muskan's children. On 24 November 2025, Muskan gave birth to a second daughter, Radha, while incarcerated. The infant remains with her inside the Meerut district jail. Saurabh's family has declined to take custody of Radha, with his mother questioning the child's paternity and maintaining that the family holds no relation to her, though no formal DNA test outcome has been documented. While Saurabh's brother had initially indicated a willingness to accept Radha if paternity were scientifically proven, the household subsequently refused responsibility.\n\nMuskan's maternal relatives have similarly expressed an inability to look after Radha. On 22 October 2026, Faizan Ansari, a social media influencer based in Mumbai, filed an application before a Meerut court offering to assume financial and parental responsibility for the child's upbringing, medical care, and schooling. District government counsel K.K. Chaubey observed that any custodial determination requires adherence to legal statutes and consideration of the mother's consent. Meanwhile, Muskan has requested visitation with her elder daughter, Pihu, who remains in the care of her maternal grandparents. As of 23 October 2026, no conclusive legal determination on Radha's permanent placement had been finalised.\n\nWhat this means for you\nThis landmark ruling highlights the decisive role of forensic evidence and chain-of-custody tracking in capital murder trials without eyewitnesses.\n\n• Across India: The conviction demonstrates how forensic data, mobile tower records, and purchase trails can secure a death penalty even in the total absence of direct witnesses. It reinforces judicial intolerance toward calculated efforts to destroy physical evidence and mislead families.\n• In Meerut and Uttar Pradesh: The swift progression from chargesheet to capital punishment sets a rigorous precedent for local law enforcement handling complex murder investigations. It underlines the effectiveness of meticulous merchant testimonies and digital tracking in the region.\n• Impact on Dependents: The fallout of the crime has left two minor children in precarious circumstances. With the elder child in maternal care and the infant born in jail, the case underscores the heavy social and legal challenges surrounding child custody in criminal households.\n• Appellate Procedure: The trial court ruling triggers mandatory high court review before any death sentence can be carried out. This ensures that legal standards and evidence integrity undergo rigorous appellate scrutiny prior to execution.\n\nWhy this happened\nThe murder was the culmination of an extramarital affair, prolonged marital discord, and a premeditated plan to eliminate the victim.\n\n• Immediate Cause: Saurabh's return from London threatened to end the clandestine relationship between Muskan and Sahil, prompting them to eliminate him to stay together.\n• Contributing Circumstances: Prolonged physical separation while Saurabh worked abroad, coupled with friction over his drinking, facilitated Muskan's reconnection with her school classmate. Sahil exploited this distance, introduced intoxicants, and met regularly while the child was away at her grandparents' home.\n• Concealment Scheme: Fearing immediate arrest, the perpetrators attempted to mask decomposition by sealing the dismembered body in concrete and maintaining false communications from the victim's phone.\n• Subsequent Proceedings: Following the trial court's death sentence, the matter moves to the Allahabad High Court for mandatory confirmation and appellate evaluation.\n\nQuestions & Answers\n\n1. What punishment did the Meerut court award to the accused?\nOn 14 October 2026, the court sentenced both Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla to death along with monetary fines.\n\n2. When and how was Saurabh Rajput murdered?\nAccording to prosecutors, Saurabh was sedated and killed with sharp-edged weapons on 3 March 2025, after which his remains were sealed inside a cement-filled drum.\n\n3. When was the body recovered by the police?\nAuthorities recovered Saurabh's dismembered remains from the sealed blue drum inside the house on 17 March 2025.\n\n4. What crucial evidence established the guilt of the accused?\nTestimonies from shopkeepers who sold the drum, cement, sand, and weapons, combined with mobile phone location data, established the case.\n\n5. Will the death sentence be carried out immediately?\nNo, capital punishment requires statutory confirmation from the High Court before any execution can take place.\n\n6. Who has offered to take custody of the child born in jail?\nMumbai-based social media influencer Faizan Ansari approached the court offering to support the infant, though no final legal ruling has been made.",
  "url": "https://trendkia.com/en/investigations/meerut-ke-charchita-drama-hatyakanda-men-patni-aura-premi-ko-phansi-ki-saja-nile-drama-men-simenta-bharakara-chhipai-thi-lasha-51320",
  "category": "Investigations",
  "publishedAt": "2026-10-24",
  "tags": [
    "Meerut drum murder",
    "Saurabh Rajput murder",
    "Muskan Rastogi",
    "Sahil Shukla",
    "Death penalty",
    "Meerut court",
    "Crime news"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "site": "TrendKia"
}