Shocking Crimes That Defined 2025: From Blue Drum Murder to Louvre's $102 Million Heist

Five notorious criminal cases that captured global attention in 2025.

From a horrifying honeymoon murder in Meghalaya to a corpse concealed in a blue drum in Meerut, and a sophisticated $102-million heist at the Louvre, 2025 witnessed some of the most disturbing and headline-grabbing crimes in recent history. Here are five cases that dominated news cycles worldwide this year.

The Shocking 'Blue Drum Murder'

Meerut became the site of 2025's most gruesome discovery when authorities found a blue drum sealed with cement containing the remains of Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rajput on March 18, two weeks after he had returned home to celebrate his daughter's birthday.

Saurabh had entered a love marriage with Muskaan Rastogi in 2016. He initially left his profession to spend more time with his wife before returning to the Merchant Navy to provide financial support for their young daughter. During his absence, Muskaan began an affair with Sahil, who was ironically Saurabh's friend.

When Saurabh returned from an overseas assignment in February to celebrate his daughter's sixth birthday, Muskaan and Sahil conspired to eliminate him.

On March 4, Muskaan laced Saurabh's dinner with sleeping pills. Once he lost consciousness, she and Sahil stabbed him, dismembered his body, placed the remains in a drum, and sealed it with cement. To create an alibi, they traveled to Manali with Saurabh's phone and posted content on his social media to maintain the illusion he was still alive.

The crime came to light when Saurabh's daughter repeatedly told neighbors her father was inside the drum, suggesting the child had witnessed the murder. Eventually, Muskaan's mother approached authorities after her daughter confessed to the killing. Under police interrogation, the couple admitted to the crime.

The drum had been sealed so thoroughly that mortuary staff required industrial drilling equipment to access the contents.

Deadly Honeymoon in Meghalaya

Just twelve days after his wedding ceremony, 30-year-old Raja Raghuvanshi boarded a flight with his new bride, Sonam, to commence their honeymoon. What should have been the start of a harmonious life together instead ended in his murder.

Raja, the youngest of three brothers from Indore, managed his family's bus transportation business. Sonam came from an affluent neighborhood and handled accounting and operational supervision for her family enterprise. Their arranged marriage appeared ideal on the surface.

However, beneath the celebratory wedding photographs lay a significant deception - Sonam was continuing an affair with Raj Kushwaha, a former employee of her family business. Shortly after the wedding, Sonam and Raj devised a scheme to eliminate Raja during their honeymoon and disguise it as an accident.

In Shillong and later in Sohra, they attempted murder three times unsuccessfully. On May 23, their fourth attempt succeeded. Three hired assailants attacked Raja with machetes near Wei Sawdong Falls while Sonam was present. His body was discarded into a gorge and his mobile phone deactivated.

Days following the murder, Sonam was located at a roadside restaurant in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur and detained. Authorities subsequently arrested Raj Kushwaha and the contracted killers.

Iran's 'Black Widow' Serial Killer

While some serial killers are apprehended quickly, others operate undetected for years. For over two decades, 56-year-old Kulthum Akbari systematically married elderly, solitary men before murdering them.

At minimum eleven deaths, possibly as many as fifteen, were attributed to natural causes, advanced age, diabetes, and hypertension. No suspicions were raised for years.

Akbari methodically poisoned her victims using diabetes medications and sedatives. When pharmaceutical methods proved insufficient, she resorted to suffocation using towels. After each death, she acquired property and abandoned relationships she had entered solely for financial gain.

Her criminal activities were only discovered following the death of 82-year-old Gholamreza Babaei. His son learned that a friend's father had also married the same woman and survived a poisoning attempt. When interrogated, Akbari confessed, "I can't recall exactly how many I killed. Perhaps thirteen or fifteen."

Iranian media outlets branded her the "Black Widow." She currently awaits sentencing and potentially faces execution.

The Louvre Heist: A Seven-Minute Art Theft

Not all significant crimes in 2025 involved violence. Some were meticulously planned heists worthy of cinematic adaptation.

On an October morning in Paris, approximately thirty minutes after the Louvre opened to tourists, four masked perpetrators appeared along the Seine River. Using a vehicle-mounted ladder, they ascended to a second-floor balcony, cut through a window with power tools, and entered the Apollo gallery.

Within just seven minutes, they absconded with eight valuable artifacts worth approximately $102 million. The stolen items included the diamond-encrusted diadem of Empress Eugénie, sapphire jewelry worn by Queen Marie-Amelie, and precious gems Napoleon I had presented to his young bride. The thieves vanished before security personnel could intervene.

Within a month, suspects were apprehended, but the stolen treasures remain unrecovered.

Panipat's 'Beauty' Murders

This disturbing criminal case from 2025 wasn't motivated by financial gain, infidelity, or inheritance. Instead, it stemmed from pathological jealousy that claimed the lives of three children.

During a family gathering in Haryana's Panipat, six-year-old Vidhi disappeared. Attendees assumed she was playing elsewhere. Later, her lifeless body was discovered in a water-filled tub.

Her aunt, Poonam, had committed the murder. She had lured Vidhi upstairs, submerged her in the tub, and drowned her. Afterward, she locked the room and rejoined the gathering downstairs.

The motive? According to investigators, Poonam couldn't tolerate any female family member appearing "more beautiful" than herself.

Most disturbingly, this wasn't her first such crime. She confessed to killing four children - three nieces and her own son - all using the same drowning method. Two deaths in 2023 and one earlier in 2025 had been dismissed as accidents. Only after Vidhi's murder did the pattern become evident, leading to Poonam's arrest.