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New twist in Raja Raghuvanshi murder, cops say hitmen didn't do it for money
Meghalaya Police said that Raja Raghuvanshi's murder was not a typical contract killing, but rather a favour to their friend Raj.
In the honeymoon murder case of Indore man Raja Raghuvanshi, fresh details have surfaced that quash the initial theory of possible “contract killing". The three young men – Vishal, Akash and Anand – arrested alongside Sonam Raghuvanshi and her alleged lover Raj Kushwaha may not have been involved solely for money, but rather as a favour.
According to East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police Vivek Syiem, “The three young people were friends, and one of them is a cousin of Raj,” reported news agency PTI.
“It was not a typical contract killing. Yes, the plan was to kill and they did it as a favour to their friend Raj,” the Meghalaya police official added.
Raj Kushwaha, a suspected boyfriend of Raja’s wife Sonam Raghuvanshi, is alleged to have masterminded the killing, with Sonam acting as a co-conspirator. The three others involved were until now believed to be hired killers, but police say they acted out of personal ties. Raj had only given them ₹50,000 for logistical expenses, Syiem said.
Plan to fake Sonam’s death.
The plot began in February in Indore and involved bizarre backup plans. According to police, one idea discussed was to murder any random woman, burn the body, and pass it off as Sonam’s — to give her more time in hiding before the truth came out.
“The conspiracy to eliminate Raja was hatched in Indore, shortly before his wedding with Sonam on May 11, and the mastermind is Raj, while the woman had agreed to the plot,” Syiem said.
A few days after their wedding, Raja (29) and Sonam (24) travelled to Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district. Both went missing on May 23 from the tourist hotspot of Sohra (Cherrapunji). Raja’s body was found in a deep gorge near Weisawdong Falls on June 2. Sonam, who was believed to be missing, resurfaced in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur on June 9 and surrendered to police.
Execution in Sohra
Police investigations revealed that Raj’s associates reached Assam before the couple’s arrival and initially planned to kill Raja in Guwahati. When that didn’t materialise, Sonam suggested travelling to Shillong and Sohra. The group then regrouped at Nongriat.
On May 23, between 2 PM and 2.18 PM, all three men attacked Raja with a machete near Weisawdong Falls, while Sonam watched, according to police. They then threw his body into a gorge.
“Sonam gave Akash the raincoat she was wearing as his shirt had a blood spot. They left Weisawdong on scooters, and Akash threw the raincoat later as it too had blood stains,” said Syiem. The two-wheeler the couple had hired was abandoned; police later recovered both it and the blood-stained raincoat.
Escape in disguise
After the killing, Sonam fled from Meghalaya disguised in a burqa, Syiem said. Raj had given Vishal the burqa for her. She took a taxi from Police Bazaar in Shillong to Guwahati, then travelled by bus to Siliguri in West Bengal. From there, she took multiple buses to Patna and Ara in Bihar and boarded a train to Lucknow. Her final stop was Indore.
Meanwhile, local media in Meghalaya had spoken to a tour guide who claimed to have seen the couple with three others — information helped police piece together the chain of events.
Syiem said Raj instructed Sonam to reappear in Siliguri and claim she had escaped from an abduction gang. However, two Meghalaya police teams in plain clothes had already reached Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The first arrest of Akash in UP sent Raj into panic mode. He then told Sonam to call her family and pretend she had just escaped captivity.
“They had thought Raja's body would not be discovered as the location was remote and that the police enquiry would take one to two months. So she thought of playing the victim card,” said Syiem.
Probe underway
On Wednesday, all five accused—Sonam, Raj, Vishal, Akash, and Anand—were remanded to eight days of police custody. Police said that police are recording statements and gathering further evidence.
“We are questioning them. We will gather more evidence and reconstruct the crime scene,” he said, adding that police are confident of filing a charge sheet within the 90-day mandatory period.
(With PTI inputs)
