The case, infamous as the ‘blue drum killing’, came to light in March 2025 after Saurabh’s remains were recovered from a sealed blue drum filled with cement at a house in Meerut
A District Court in Meerut on Wednesday sentenced Muskan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla to death for murdering Saurabh Rajput, the woman’s husband and a former Merchant Navy officer.
The verdict followed the duo’s conviction in connection with the case on September 30, 2026, following a 13-month trial.
The case, infamous as the ‘blue drum killing‘, came to light in March 2025 after Saurabh’s remains were recovered from a sealed blue drum filled with cement at a house in Meerut’s Indra Nagar. Subsequently, the deceased’s wife, Muskan and her lover Sahil, were arrested in connection with the murder.
The ‘Mahabharata’ Reference By Court
While pronouncing the sentence, the Meerut District Court made a special reference to a verse from the Hindu epic ‘Mahabharata’.
According to an Aaj Tak report, the judge arrived at the court smiling. As he began pronouncing the sentence, he referred to a verse from the Mahabharata, and said, “Dand bhi dharm hai (Even punishment is dharma)”.
Invoking the epic, he said, “Dand ko hi dharm bataya gaya hai, yani apradhi ko dand dena dharm hai (Punishment has been referred to as dharma, meaning a punishing a criminal is itself a righteous act)”.
On September 30, District and Sessions Judge Arvind Kumar Mishra had convicted Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla of murder after a 13-month trial.
After hearing arguments on the punishment, the court sentenced both convicts to death today, October 14.