The Blue Drum Phenomenon: How One Murder Revealed a Disturbing Pattern Across India
What began as an isolated, horrific crime in Meerut has evolved into a chilling pattern that law enforcement agencies across multiple states are now examining with growing concern. The so-called "blue drum murder" – referring to the killing of former merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput – has come to represent a broader trend of domestic betrayal, third-party involvement, premeditated violence, and extreme methods employed to conceal murder.
Meerut: The Crime That Established the Pattern
Saurabh Rajput, a 35-year-old ex-merchant navy officer, returned to Meerut from London on February 24, 2025, intending to surprise his wife Muskan Rastogi on her birthday. Tragically, he never left the house alive.
On the night of March 4, 2025, Muskan allegedly drugged her husband with sedatives before summoning her lover, Sahil Shukla alias Mohit. While Saurabh lay unconscious, Muskan stabbed him multiple times, after which Sahil slit his throat. The perpetrators then dismembered the body, sealed it with cement inside a 220-liter blue plastic drum, and left it in their house for nearly two weeks.
Meerut SSP Vipin Tada provided disturbing details: "After killing Saurabh, they attempted to dispose of the remains but failed. They left his body in the bathroom overnight along with the severed head. The following morning, Sahil purchased 50kg of cement and a 220-liter drum. They chopped off his hands, packed the dismembered body inside, and sealed it with cement."
To cover their tracks, Muskan used Saurabh's phone to send deceptive messages to his family, falsely claiming he was in Shimla. She and Sahil then traveled to Shimla themselves on March 5, returning twelve days later. The crime only came to light after Muskan confessed to her mother, Kavita Rastogi, who subsequently took her to the police.
Kavita Rastogi expressed her devastation: "Saurabh was mad for my daughter. He left his family just to marry her. He was like my son."
Sambhal: A Disturbing Echo in Chandausi
In Sambhal's Chandausi town, police uncovered another case marked by extreme brutality and deception. Rahul Kumar, a 32-year-old shoe trader, was allegedly murdered by his wife Ruby, 30, and her lover Gaurav Kumar, a neighbor. The crime occurred on November 17, 2025, after Rahul reportedly discovered the two in a compromising position inside his home.
Police reported that Rahul was first attacked, then decapitated. Both his hands and legs were severed, and the body parts were dumped at different locations to delay identification. In what investigators later described as a calculated move, Ruby filed a missing person report the very next day, claiming her husband had disappeared.
Sambhal SP Krishan Kant Bishnoi revealed: "The couple had been married for 12 years and have an 11-year-old son, who informed police that his parents frequently argued about a man who regularly visited their house."
On December 15, police recovered a torso from one location, though the limbs were missing. Days later, a polythene packet containing a human head was discovered in a drain. During examination, officers noticed the name "Rahul" tattooed on the chest, which helped establish the victim's identity. This case immediately drew comparisons to the Meerut murder due to the dismemberment, spousal involvement, and post-crime deception.
Alwar: Salt, Silence, and a Missing Family
In Rajasthan's Khairthal-Tijara district, a foul odor led to the discovery of another body concealed in a blue drum – this time on the rooftop of a rented house in Kishangarh Bas. The victim, Hansraj alias Suraj, approximately 35 years old, had moved into the accommodation just six weeks earlier. He worked at a local brick kiln and had relocated from Shahjahanpur district in Uttar Pradesh.
Police revealed that the body was covered with salt, allegedly to accelerate decomposition. Hansraj's throat had been slit with a sharp weapon. Even more disturbing was what followed: Hansraj's wife Sunita, their three children – Harshal, Nandini, and Golu – and the landlord's son Jitendra were all found missing.
Khairthal-Tijara SP Manish Chaudhary stated: "Hansraj was murdered and his body was placed in the drum with salt. This was a premeditated murder." Police disclosed that Jitendra, whose wife had died twelve years earlier, frequently drank with Hansraj. Investigators are probing whether multiple individuals were involved and whether the family's disappearance was part of a planned escape.
Jhansi: Burnt Remains, a Son's Role, and a Blue Trunk
In Jhansi, police arrested Ram Singh, a 62-year-old retired railway employee, for allegedly killing Preeti, a 32-year-old woman with whom he was in a relationship. According to police, Ram Singh had a wife and another mistress but developed a relationship with Preeti, whom he accommodated in a rented house. Frequent disputes over money allegedly triggered the murder.
Police reported that Ram Singh killed Preeti and then burned her body using wood and coal, allegedly with assistance from his 16-year-old son. The remains were placed inside a large blue trunk. The crime came to light when a loader driver hired to dispose of the trunk grew suspicious mid-transport and alerted authorities. Inside the trunk were ash, charcoal, and small fragments of burnt bones.
Circle officer Laxmikant Gautam explained: "The body had completely turned into ashes, except for a few bone fragments." Police also discovered a blue drum in the rented house, along with materials believed to have been used for burning the body.
Ludhiana: Ragpickers Uncover Another Drum Death
In Punjab's Ludhiana, ragpickers stumbled upon a blue drum lying in a vacant plot in the Sherpur area. When they attempted to move it, a foul smell prompted them to inform police.
Inspector Kulwant Kaur reported that the drum contained the decomposed body of an unidentified man, approximately 40 years old. The limbs were tied with rope. The body had been wrapped first in a bedsheet, then placed inside a plastic gunny bag before being stuffed into the drum. Police believe the man had died at least two days earlier. A murder case was registered against unidentified accused, and efforts are underway to establish the victim's identity. Investigators acknowledged that the method bore resemblance to the Meerut case.
Fear Turns Public: Protests and Viral Videos
The impact of the Meerut murder extended beyond police investigations and crime scenes. In Bhopal, a 38-year-old man named Amit Kumar Sen from Gwalior staged a protest holding a placard addressed to the chief minister, claiming his wife and her boyfriends could kill him.
"She has cheated on me. She has killed my son. She can get me killed, too. Recently, many cases have come to light in the country where a wife, in collusion with her boyfriend, has had her husband murdered. My wife has three to four boyfriends," he declared.
In Jhansi's Mauranipur, a man named Pawan released a viral video alleging that his wife, a government school teacher, and her alleged lover – a local corporator – might kill him and his son and dump their bodies in a drum "like the Meerut case." Police confirmed that complaints from both sides were under investigation.
Why the 'Blue Drum' Phenomenon Persists
While police caution against viewing these cases as a single trend, criminologists note that certain factors consistently recur: intimate relationships, third-party involvement, premeditation, and attempts to erase evidence through dismemberment or concealment.
Psychiatrists observe that such crimes often stem from emotional dependence, fear of separation, financial motives, and a belief that murder represents an easier solution than escape through legal or social means. Former police officials point out that lovers frequently reassure the primary accused that the law will not catch up, creating a dangerous sense of invincibility.
A comprehensive analysis of news reports from March 1 to June 12, 2025, revealed that 66 spousal murders occurred during this period. Of these, husbands killed their wives in 47 cases, with stabbings, decapitations, beheadings, and thrashings being common causes of death. Weapons ranged from rolling pins to pressure cookers. Motives typically related to domestic disputes, domestic violence, alcoholism, and – most commonly – infidelity, both suspected and real.
Of the 19 reports of women killing their husbands, the vast majority included a third party, most commonly the wife's lover who was also involved in the crime. While most murders committed by men appear to be crimes of passion, women seem more likely to premeditate killings.
Psychiatrist Jyoti Kapoor explains: "Common motives for premeditated spousal homicides tend to be either financial, for survival, or because of another relationship. When you're in a relationship and feel there is no alternative, there is a certain degree of helplessness. But this is a bad, irrational, unjustifiable coping mechanism. You use extreme methods to get something which you consider more important than someone's life. There's an unhealthy dependence on this other person, like we saw in the Blue Drum case."
Meeran Chadha Borwankar, former Commissioner of Police in Pune, adds: "The most common murder motive in marriages is infidelity. But in live-in relationships, many times the inability to handle the situation leads to murder. For example, one partner insisting on marriage while the other is either married with spouse and family or is just not willing to formalize the live-in relationship." When asked whether female killers are increasing, she notes, "In fact, they are still quite rare, thus getting media attention."
Beyond Sensation, Towards Accountability
Despite public fixation on the "blue drum" phenomenon, experts warn against reducing complex crimes to shorthand horror stories. While the method is striking, investigators stress that each case has distinct motives and circumstances.
What remains undeniable, however, is the psychological imprint left by the Meerut murder. From Sambhal to Ludhiana, from Alwar to Jhansi, the blue drum has become a symbol – of betrayal inside homes, of violence masked as normalcy, and of how one crime can shape the narrative of many that follow.
As investigations continue across states, police insist that justice will be determined by evidence, not echoes. But for now, the image of a sealed blue drum has etched itself into public memory – not merely as an object, but as a stark warning of how domestic relationships, when poisoned by deception and desperation, can culminate in unspeakable brutality.
