Muskaan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla broke down and cried uncontrollably after a Meerut court sentenced them to death on Wednesday for the murder of her husband, merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput.
Both have stopped eating since the verdict, according to jail sources. The jail administration has increased security and surveillance. They have been assigned new prisoner numbers Sahil Shukla as 395 and Muskaan Rastogi as 396 and are being held in separate cells while officials monitor their condition.
The death sentence also changes their prison attire. Shukla will wear a white kurta-pyjama, while Rastogi will wear a cream-coloured saree or suit. After the verdict, the pair asked jail officials about the next steps and were informed they can appeal to the High Court.
District Judge Arvind Kumar Mishra pronounced the sentence two weeks after convicting them. The trial involved 126 hearings and statements from 22 witnesses. The court held that Rastogi and Shukla conspired to kill Rajput and concealed his dismembered body inside a blue industrial drum using concrete and sand.
While delivering the sentence, the court referred to principles from the Bhagavad Gita and Mahabharata regarding duty and the punishment of wrongdoing. Earlier that day, Rastogi’s parents told the court that Rajput was a “very good person” and that they would not protest if their daughter received the death sentence. Her family had never met her in prison.
According to the prosecution, on March 3, 2025, Rastogi sedated Rajput by lacing his food at their home in Indra Nagar. Shukla then arrived, and the two stabbed him to death and dismembered the body. They sealed the remains in a blue plastic drum filled with a mixture of sand, water and cement before fleeing to Himachal Pradesh the next day. Rastogi used Rajput’s phone to send messages to his family, creating the impression that he was alive and travelling on business.
On March 17, 2025, relatives and local authorities went to the house after the couple’s six-year-old daughter told neighbours that “Papa is in the drum.” Police cut open the drum and recovered Rajput’s remains. Rastogi and Shukla were arrested two days later.
A death sentence passed by a sessions court requires confirmation by the High Court before it can be carried out.