Indian woman and boyfriend get death sentence in 'blue drum' murder case
The body was recovered from a large blue plastic storage container - locally called a drum.
Indian woman and boyfriend handed death sentence in 'blue drum' murder case
A woman and her boyfriend have been sentenced to death for killing her husband in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Muskan Rastogi, 26, and Sahil Shukla, 28, were found guilty on 30 September by a court in Meerut city in the 2025 murder of her husband, Saurabh Rajput.
Rajput's body was found inside a large blue plastic storage container - locally known as a drum - which led to the case being called the "blue drum murder".
The death sentences issued on Wednesday must be confirmed by the high court. Rastogi and Shukla can appeal the ruling.
The prosecution told the court that Rastogi and Shukla had been school classmates and had become close while Rajput, who worked in London, was away.
When Rajput first learned of their affair in 2021, he wanted a divorce, but his family persuaded him not to proceed because the couple had a young daughter.
Rajput was killed on 3 March 2025 while visiting Meerut. Police said Rastogi gave him food mixed with sedatives before he was murdered.
Rastogi and Shukla then fled to Himachal Pradesh state, but used Rajput's mobile phone to send messages to his family suggesting he was alive and travelling on business, they added.
A few days later, Rajput's family filed a police complaint saying he was missing.
On 17 March, after Rastogi returned from Himachal Pradesh and visited her parents, her six-year-old daughter asked where her father was.
Rastogi first accused her in-laws of killing her husband. Her parental family was not convinced and took her to the police station.
During questioning, Rastogi confessed, and she and Shukla were arrested and charged with murder.
"My brother was killed by cruel people," Rajput's brother told BBC Hindi.
Rastogi's parents also called for strict action against her.
"My daughter, along with a friend, murdered her husband in her own home. She is not fit for this society and is a danger to others," her father told ANI news agency.
Rastogi gave birth to a second child while in jail.