A Mumbai-based influencer has filed an application in a Meerut district court seeking to take care of and provide for the 10-month-old daughter of Muskan Rastogi, a convict in Uttar Pradesh's infamous ‘Blue Drum’ murder case.
The court found Muskan Rastogi and her then extramarital partner, Sahil Shukla, guilty of murdering her husband, Saurabh Rajput, and concealing his dismembered body in a blue drum. Both were convicted by a Meerut court on September 30 this year and have now been sentenced to death.
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Mumbai-based influencer seeks child custody
Faizan Ansari, an influencer by profession, moved to court on Wednesday seeking permission to take up the education and upbringing of Rastogi's 10-month-old daughter with Shukla named Mannat, alias Radha who was born during the term of her mother's imprisonment, as per a PTI report.
To support his plea, Ansari has left the assessment of his financial capacity to the authorities, expressing his willingness to abide by their determination of the expenses required for the infant’s education, healthcare and marriage.
{{/usCountry}}To support his plea, Ansari has left the assessment of his financial capacity to the authorities, expressing his willingness to abide by their determination of the expenses required for the infant’s education, healthcare and marriage.
{{/usCountry}}Rajput's mother Renu Devi reportedly refused to take up care of the child. District Government Counsel KK Chaubey stated that any decision involving the child would have to take into account her mother's wishes and applicable legal provisions.
Chaubey remarked that a proposal to provide financial assistance to the child through the administration could be considered under the prescribed procedure, clarifying that merely filing an application in court did not confer any right to the child's custody or guardianship, according to PTI.
The ‘Blue drum’ murder case
Rastogi and Shukla were jointly convicted in the 2025 murder of the former's husband after his body was recovered from a large blue plastic storage container, leading to the case being dubbed as "the blue drum murder".
Rajput, a merchant navy officer, was killed on March 3, 2025, and his body was recovered two weeks later, in a case that made national headlines. According to the police probe, Rajput had brought ‘kofta’ curry from his mother Renu Devi’s house on the night of the murder. Rastogi allegedly laced the food with a sedative, as previously reported by HT. After Rajput became unconscious, Shukla was allegedly called to the house.
Police said Rajput was subsequently murdered and his body dismembered in the washroom. The convicts allegedly first attempted to place the body in a briefcase, but abandoned the plan after its hook broke. The body was then placed in a bed before being concealed in the blue drum.
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Cops questioned the cab driver in whose vehicle Rastogi and Shukla reportedly travelled after the crime. Investigators also collected statements and CCTV footage from the hotel where the two were said to have stayed. Call detail records, mobile phone location data, hotel registers and forensic reports were also examined.
The case came to light after Rajput’s brother, Bablu, lodged a missing-person complaint on March 18, 2025, expressing suspicion about Rastogi and Shukla. According to investigating officer Ramakant Pachauri, then station house officer of Brahmpuri police station, police registered an FIR and began investigating Rajput’s disappearance.
District judge Arvind Kumar Mishra pronounced the verdict last week after 126 hearings in a 13-month trial, court officials said. Both convicts were sentenced to death.