How Meghalaya Police cracked Raja Raghuvanshi honeymoon murder case and nabbed Sonam Raghuvanshi
Raj Kushwaha is Sonam Raghuvanshi’s alleged boyfriend who helped her hatch the plan to kill her husband Raja Raghuvanshi.
A honeymoon in Meghalaya spiraled into a chilling murder mystery straight out of a crime thriller — a husband found dead, a wife accused of plotting his murder, her alleged lover as an accomplice, a bloodied machete believed to be the weapon, and a crucial tip from a tour guide that brought police closer to solving the case.
After recovering Raja Raghuvanshi’s body on June 2 in a gorge near Weisawdong Falls in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya, the Meghalaya police made a major breakthrough in the case after a week with a series of five arrests on Monday. Among those arrested are Sonam Raghuvanshi, Raja’s wife who allegedly conspired to kill him, and four men - Raj Kushwaha, Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan, and Anand Kurmi.
Also read: Raja Raghuvanshi's family's big charge: 'More than 5 accused... mother knew about affair'
Raj Kushwaha is Sonam’s alleged boyfriend, who helped her hatch the plan to kill her husband, Raja. Three others are the men allegedly hired to carry out the killing. All the accused are now in Meghalaya police’s custody and are being taken to Meghalaya for further investigation.
Here is how Meghalaya Police cracked Raja Raghuvanshi murder case:
On May 11, Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi got married and went for their honeymoon just days later on May 20 to Meghalaya. Three days later, on May 23, the couple went missing. They were seen in black jackets carrying a white suitcase in the CCTV camera footage captured at a homestay in Shillong where they were staying.
A day later, on May 24, the Meghalaya police found their rented scooter abandoned outside a café along the road connecting Shillong to Sohra. According to the police, the couple arrived in Mawlakhiat village on May 22 and trekked down a gorge to visit the famous living root bridges in Nongriat village, where they stayed the night.
Days later, on June 2, the police found Raja Raghuvanshi’s body from a deep gorge below the Wei Sawdong Falls parking lot in Sohra while Sonam was still missing. Raja’s body was identified through a smartwatch that was found strapped to his wrist.
On the same day, the police also found a bloodstained machete and also a black field coat similar to the ones the couple was wearing on the day they went missing. The coat was recovered in Mawkma village, which is halfway between Sohrarim and the gorge where Raghuvanshi’s body was found. These two were major clues that helped police crack the case.
According to a Meghalaya Police officer, it was not a machete used in the region, adding to their suspicion that someone from outside the region was involved. “We decided to check the call details of the couple,” he said.
The next big clue came in the form of the testimony of a local guide - Albert Pde. Pde, who is a guide at Mawlakhiat, told police on June 7 that he saw the couple the day they went missing accompanied by three men. Pde said the three men accompanied the couple as they were climbing up over 3,000 steps from Nongriat to Mawlakhiat around 10am on May 23, and added that Raja was talking to the men in Hindi.
Two days later, the police made a series of arrests on June 9. So far, five people have been arrested including Sonam Raghuvanshi and four men. While Sonam was arrested from a dhaba in Uttar Pradesh during the early hours of Monday, three out of the four men were arrested from Madhya Pradesh, except Akash Rajput, who was arrested from Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur.
According to the police, Raj Kushwaha is allegedly Sonam’s boyfriend and conspired with her to murder her husband. He even allegedly attended Raja’s funeral after his body was recovered.
All the accused are being taken to Meghalaya for further detailed probe into the murder.
