Sonam Raghuvanshi has been arrested in connection with the murder of her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, the Indore businessman who had gone missing while on honeymoon in Meghalaya and was found dead days after his disappearance.
Raja Raghuvanshi's body was found on June 2, days after he left for his honeymoon with Sonam, and what initially appeared to be an accidental death turned into a murder probe with the discovery of a machete, the suspected weapon.
From disappearance in Meghalaya to reappearance in 1,100 km away | Sonam's story
The discovery of Raja Raghuvanshi's body led to a massive search for his newly wedded wife Sonam Raghuvanshi, who her family and in-laws initially was abducted.
Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi left for their honeymoon from Madhya Pradesh's Indore to Meghalaya's Shillong on May 20 and went missing on May 23. On Monday, after an over two-week long search, Sonam Raghuvanshi was found at a ‘dhaba’ in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur, over 1,200 kilometres away from Meghalaya.
Sonam Raghuvanshi reportedly ‘surrendered’ of killing her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, police said, adding that a man she was allegedly in an affair with - Raj Kushwaha - was also involved and is now under arrest.
{{/usCountry}}Sonam Raghuvanshi reportedly ‘surrendered’ of killing her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, police said, adding that a man she was allegedly in an affair with - Raj Kushwaha - was also involved and is now under arrest.
{{/usCountry}}Amitabh Yash, ADG (Law & Order, UP) said: “Sonam informed her family that she was present at a dhaba near Ghazipur. Her family passed this information to the Indore Police, who immediately contacted the UP Police. Ghazipur Police located Sonam at the dhaba. She was taken for medical examination to Sadar Hospital and then sent to the One Stop Center. Meghalaya."
Sonam informed her family late Snday night and was traced to a roadside restaurant at Nandganj in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur at 1am on Monday, police said.
Indore’s additional deputy police commissioner Rajesh Dandotiya said Raj Kushwaha, 20, the man Sonam, 25, was in a relationship with, planned the murder on May 18 after the couple got married seven days earlier, as reported by Hindustan Times earlier. Raj Kushwaha allegedly hired Vishal Chauhan, Anand Kumar, and Akash Rajput to kill Raja Raghuvanshi. All of them are under arrest.
The police say that Sonam hired assassins to get her husband killed on their honeymoon. His body was found in a ditch in the East Khasi Hills area of Meghalaya on June 2. Multiple agencies were trying to locate Sonam Raghuvanshi, who was believed to be missing. She surrendered in the wee hours of Monday, with the police saying that she did so under pressure.
Arrests made
SP East Khasi Hills Vivek Syiem said that Sonam had surrendered due to the raids and arrests of the alleged assassins by the police.
"It is a fact that she called her relatives, but this has happened after all the raids were conducted. If you see the logical series of events, all these days she hadn't come out, but last night the rest of the people were caught, she also surfaced," he told the media.
So far, five people have been arrested in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case, including, Sonam Raghuvanshi.
SP Vivek Syiem said the first arrest was made in Uttar Pradesh, while the next two were made in Madhya Pradesh's Indore. It was then that Sonam Raghuvanshi surrendered.
“The first person arrested was Akash Rajput, 19 years old, from Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh. The second was Vishal Singh Chauhan, 22 years old, from Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The third was Raj Singh Khushwaha, 21 years old, also from Indore," Syiem told news agency PTI.
He also revealed that the fifth arrest was made from the Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh on Monday afternoon.
"Sonam Raghuvanshi is currently in police custody. This afternoon, we arrested Anand Kurmi, 23 years old, from Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh," the SP said.