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How Sonam Raghuvanshi escaped after husband Raja Raghuvanshi's chilling murder in Meghalaya
Following her husband Raja's murder, Sonam Raghuvanshi allegedly drove to Guwahati from Shillong and took a train for Indore, according to police.
Chilling details have emerged about the murder of Indore-based businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, including how the crime was executed and how his wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi, allegedly the main conspirator, fled Meghalaya after the incident.
The Meghalaya Police, which has so far arrested five accused in the case, along with the Indore Police, have managed to track down Sonam’s movements after the murder of her husband in Meghalaya on May 23.
How Sonam, three killers escaped Meghalaya
On May 23, the day honeymooning couple Sonam and Raja went missing, the latter was allegedly murdered. After the incident, Sonam is said to have driven from Shillong to Guwahati and then returned to Indore by train, reaching by May 27, Hindustan Times earlier reported. The Indore Police said this information was shared by their counterparts in Meghalaya.
A day later on May 28, Sonam left for Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh where she was later arrested on Monday, June 9, said the Indore Police. Ghazipur is the hometown of Raj Kushwaha, Sonam’s alleged boyfriend who helped her hatch the plan and carry out the killing of her husband.
Raj Kushwaha is also one of the main accused in the case and has been arrested by police, along with three other men whom he allegedly hired to kill Raja Raghuvanshi - his cousin Vishal Chauhan, and friends Akash Rajput and Anand Kurmi. Although Kushwaha did not travel to Meghalaya when the murder happened, he was in constant touch with Sonam, according to the police.
While in Indore, Sonam allegedly stayed with Kushwaha at a flat. According to Indore's additional deputy commissioner of police, crime branch, Rajesh Dandotiya, they received some inputs from Meghalaya Police and scanned several CCTV camera footage to identify where she stayed. "Raj Kushwaha picked her up 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,” he said.
The three killers also allegedly went to Indore after the murder. They took a taxi from Sohra to Guwahati after killing Raja Raghuvanshi and then boarded a train to Indore, reported NDTV.
"Their coordinated but separate movement indicates that the logistics of the escape after the murder was also planned," NDTV quoted a source from the Meghalaya Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) as saying.
Raj Kushwaha says he didn’t want to support Sonam
In yet another revelation about the murder, Raj Kushwaha has claimed that he got cold feet at the last moment and did not want to support Sonam in carrying out the murder. According to a senior police officer from Indore, who is working on the case along with Meghalaya police, the three killers also refused to kill him but did so after Sonam insisted.
“Raj Kushwaha claims he didn’t want to support Sonam and at the last moment, cancelled his plan to go to Meghalaya. He also allegedly asked the three others not to go, but they went to see Meghalaya after Sonam booked the tickets. Even at the last moment, the three refused to kill, but Sonam insisted and said she would give ₹15 lakh for that. Police are verifying these claims,” the police officer from Indore told HT.
With inputs from Shruti Tomar
