Warning: This story contains details that some readers may find distressing.

A woman and her boyfriend have been sentenced to death for the murder of her husband in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Muskan Rastogi, 26, and Sahil Shukla, 28, were convicted on 30 September by a court in Meerut city for the 2025 murder of her husband Saurabh Rajput.

Rajput's body was recovered from a large blue plastic storage container - locally called a drum - leading to the case being dubbed as "the blue drum murder".

Wednesday's death sentences have to be confirmed by the high court. Rastogi and Shukla have the option to challenge the verdict.

The prosecution said in court that Rastogi and Shukla had been classmates in school and had grown close in the absence of Rajput who worked in London.

When Rajput first came to know of their affair in 2021, he had wanted to get a divorce but was persuaded against this by his family since the couple had a young daughter.

Rajput was murdered on 3 March 2025 when he was visiting Meerut. Police said he was given food laced with sedatives by Rastogi before he was killed.

Rastogi and Shukla fled to Himachal Pradesh state but used Rajput's mobile phone to send text messages to his family to make it seem like he was alive and travelling for business, they added.

A few days later, however, Rajput's family lodged a complaint with the police saying that he was missing.

On 17 March, when Rastogi visited her parents after returning from Himachal Pradesh, her six-year-old daughter asked about her father.

Rastogi initially blamed her in-laws for her husband's murder. Unconvinced, her parental family took her to the police station.

Rastogi confessed to the crime during interrogation and she and Shukla were arrested and charged with the murder.

"My brother was killed by cruel people," Rajput's brother told BBC Hindi.

Rastogi's parents also demanded 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.

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