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After murder, Sonam hid in Indore, Ghazipur: Cops
Indore police track Sonam Raghuvanshi's movements from her husband's murder in Meghalaya to her hiding in Ghazipur, linking her to the crime with her lover.
Indore police believe they have a fix on the movements of Sonam Raghuvanshi, between her husband Raja Raghuvanshi’s murder in the East Khasi Hill district of Meghalaya on May 23 to her reappearance over 1000 km away in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, on the morning of June 9.
They also believe they have joined the dots -- from the wedding of the two on May 11 to May 16, when they believe the conspiracy to do away with Raja was hatched to May 23, the day of the murder.
The Meghalaya police claim Sonam Raghuvanshi plotted her husband’s murder along with her lover, who hired three men to carry out the killing.
The Indore police say they received information from the Meghalaya police that she drove to Guwahati from Shillong soon after the murder, and then returned to Indore on May 27 by train.
Then, on May 28, she left for Ghazipur, the hometown of her lover, Raj Kushwaha, an employee at her family’s plywood factory, who stayed back in Indore so as to not raise any suspicion, the Indore police added.
Originally, of course, it wasn’t about a murder but a couple from Indore that went missing in Meghalaya while on their honeymoon.The chief minister of Madhya Pradesh called up his counterpart in Meghalaya, and the state’s police embarked on a search for the couple between May 23 and June 2, when Raja Raghuvanshi’s body was found in a gorge. Even then, the needle of suspicion didn’t turn to Sonam, and everyone believed she had come to harm too . Then, on June 7, a guide said he saw three other men with the Raghuvanshis on May 23, and the plot unraveled.
The killers and Kushwaha were detained on Sunday, and Sonam surfaced in a dhaba in Ghazipur. “It appears that someone informed her about Raj’s arrest and then she surrendered,” said an Indore police officer who asked not to be named.
Indore additional deputy commissioner of police crime branch, Rajesh Dandotiya said that on the basis of information provided by Meghalaya police and footage from over two dozen CCTV cameras in the city, the MP police have identified where she stayed on her return to Indore. “Raj Kushwaha picked her by sending a cab. She reached a flat in Dewas Naka area and spent 24 hours there with Raj before leaving for his village in Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh. We are going to seal the flat and trying to find out the owner.”
According to the unnamed Indore police officer, “Sonam was hiding in Ghazipur since May 28 and was constantly in touch with Raj and other accused.”
The Indore police also claim to have a timeline of events before the murder.
Sonam, they say, was in contact with Kushwaha after the wedding. On May 16, the two spoke for a long time on the phone, they add. Raja Raghuvanshi’s mother Uma Raghuvanshi said that Sonam spent a lot of time on her phone in the four days that she stayed with them after the wedding.
The same day, Indore police claim, Kushwaha discussed the plan to murder Raja Raghuvanshi with his cousin, Vishal Chauhan, and his friends Akash Rajput and Anand Kurmi in a restaurant in Indore.
Chauhan, Rajput and Kurmi left for Meghalaya soon after with ₹50,000 and a mobile phone provided by Raj, who stayed back in Indore and continued to work at the factory of Sonam’s brother.
Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi arrived at Meghalaya on May 22 via Guwahati and checked into a guest house in Shillong.
“In Shillong, the three killers rented a room in a hotel just one km from the guest house where Sonam and Raja were staying,” said the Indore police officer. On May 22, when Sonam and Raja left for Sopra, they followed them and checked into a homestay there.
Meanwhile, the family of Raj Kushwaha, claimed that he was not in a relationship with Sonam Raghuvanshi.
Kushwaha’s younger sister claimed her brother was “happy” about Sonam’s marriage.
Raja Raghuvanshi’s family alleged that there could be more people involved in the plot.
His brother Vipin Raghuvanshi said, “The family of Sonam Raghuvanshi organised the marriage in haste. If they knew about the affair of Sonam and Raj, why didn’t they sack him from the job? Why did Sonam go to Ghazipur, Raj Kushwaha’s home town? Police should arrest all those who helped Sonam hide after the murder,” he said.
