Meerut: A court in Meerut on Wednesday awarded the death penalty to Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla in the murder of former Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rajput, whose dismembered body was concealed in a blue drum in a case that drew widespread public attention.
The court also imposed fines on both convicts. Advocate Krishan Kumar Dubey said a fine of Rs 50,000 was imposed under Section 302, pertaining to murder, while an additional fine of Rs 20,000 was levied under Section 238A, according to his statement.
Describing the verdict as significant, Dubey said the prosecution had established the charges through strong and consistent evidence. He added that the defence had argued that no one had directly witnessed the murder and highlighted that the accused had daughters, but the court was not persuaded by these submissions.
Dubey said the nature of the crime and the alleged planning involved were key factors in the case. According to the prosecution, Rajput was killed and his body was cut into three pieces before the remains were concealed in a blue drum.
The case concerns the killing of 29-year-old Rajput, whose wife, Muskan, and her schoolmate-turned-partner, Sahil, were accused of conspiring to murder him. The crime came to be widely referred to as the “blue drum murder case” because of the manner in which the body was concealed.
During the trial, the court heard testimony from 22 witnesses as the prosecution presented its case against the two accused.
Dubey also described the death sentence awarded to Muskan as an unusual development, noting that capital punishment for a woman is relatively rare. He said her daughter could remain with her mother until the age of six.
