Amid hundreads of public shouting slogans "to hang" the culprits Sonam Raghuvanshi, her boyfriend Raj Kushwaha and three contract killers in Meghalaya 's capital Shillong on Wednesday Meghalaya Police's SIT produced the killers at CJM Court in the afternoon. The court gave eight days police custody for further interrogation and to create crime scene of brutal killing of Indore businessman Raja Raghuwanshi who was in honneymoon trip with his newly wed killer wife Sonam Raghubangshi.
Sonam, 24, was brought to Meghalaya late Tuesday night from Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, while the other accused arrived on Wednesday morning on transit remand from Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
The police had initially sought a 10-day remand, but the court granted eight days, allowing the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to reconstruct the crime scene in Sohra (Cherrapunji), where the murder took place.
Investigations revealed that Sonam had allegedly conspired with her boyfriend, Raj Kushwaha, and hired three men—Vishal Singh Chauhan, Akash Rajput, and Anand Kurmi to kill Raja.
Earlier in the day Sonam breaks down in constant interrogation of SIT where she confessed how Raja Raghuvanshi was killed through her boyfriend Raj through three Superi Killers. Investigation team found the involvement of five bank accounts in money transaction and one more suspect Jitendra Raghuvanshi in the case.
The SIT presented CCTV footage allegedly showing Sonam meeting with contract killers shortly after Raja’s death. Investigators also showed her a blood-stained shirt found at the crime scene, which was identified as Sonam's.
Police say Sonam was present when Raja was killed. "She watched her husband die," ACP Poonam Chand Yadav told.
Raja and Sonam married on May 11 in Indore. They travelled to Meghalaya for their honeymoon and checked out of a homestay in Nongriat village on May 23. Ten days later, Raja’s body was discovered in a 200-foot gorge, around 20 km away. Police believe the murder took place shortly after the couple left their accommodation.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma hailed Meghalaya Police for cracking the murder case of Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, and claimed “solid evidence” of the involvement of the tourist’s wife Sonam in the crime.
“I want to refrain from going into too many of the details. But evidence is solid, technology-based, including phone records and messages. The statements from the arrested accused will come now,” Sangma said.
“Meghalaya Police worked on the case in a planned and systematic manner. A lot of evidence and facts are coming to light. It took the police a few days to put together the pieces and missing links. But, ultimately the links point to Sonam (Raghuvanshi’s wife),” Sangma said.
The Chief Minister also said he was pained at a section of people blaming the “peace-loving people of Sohra, Meghalaya and the entire North East” in the wake of the murder.
It is okay to point fingers towards the Government and the police. What hurt us was that all of the North East was seen in a negative light,” he said.
“It is a difficult moment for the family and for our people. We have to move on, and I urge people to come to the North East. The best way is to be together,” Sangma added.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
