Meerut (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 14: A court in Meerut on Wednesday sentenced Muskan and Sahil to death in the murder case of Saurabh Rajput, popularly known as the blue drum murder case.
Advocate Krishan Kumar Dubey also informed that both have been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 50,000. “The court has also imposed fines of Rs 50,000 under Section 302 and Rs 20,000 under Section 238A.”
“It is a historic verdict. The entire nation was watching; the eyes of the public were fixed on what punishment the perpetrators of this crime would receive. They appeared to be in a state of shock; they were stunned. One can imagine the mental state of someone facing the death penalty. The defense had presented arguments—such as the fact that no one actually witnessed the murder and that both accused have daughters—but these were all set aside because the evidence presented by the prosecution was so strong, significant, and precise that it conclusively proved their guilt,” he said.
Elaborating further, Dubey said the primary basis was the nature of the murder itself.
“She killed her husband—whom she had married out of love—and then dismembered his body into three parts for disposal, hiding the remains in a blue drum. It was a meticulously planned conspiracy and strategy. She executed the murder with a calm and composed mind. Consequently, the death penalty was the appropriate punishment for such a premeditated killing,” he said.
The advocate called it a significant verdict among the country’s court rulings.
“A woman being sentenced to death is, in itself, a precedent-setting event. Regarding her daughter, she can stay with her mother for six years,” he said.
The court had earlier heard the case in which Muskan, along with Sahil, was accused of conspiring to murder her husband Saurabh Rajput and hiding his body in a blue drum. During the trial, 22 witnesses were presented before the court.
The Meerut blue drum murder case pertains to the killing of 29-year-old former Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rajput, in which his wife Muskan Rastogi and her schoolmate-turned-partner Sahil Shukla are accused.
