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Why Meghalaya honeymoon murder accused Sonam Raghuvanshi was granted bail by court
The court reportedly granted bail after finding that the police had not properly informed her of the reasons for her arrest, which affected her defence.
Sonam Raghuvanshi, who is accused of murdering her husband during their honeymoon in Meghalaya in 2025, was given bail on Monday by a court in Shillong in the north-eastern state.
The court reportedly granted bail after finding that the police had not properly informed her of the reasons for her arrest, which affected her defence.
Notably, Sonam was arrested along with her alleged lover Raj Kushwaha and three others for allegedly plotting and carrying out the murder of Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi.
ALSO READ | Honeymoon, affair, and a gruesome murder: The Sonam Raghuvanshi case that has shaken India up
Why Sonam Raghuvanshi was given bail by Meghalaya court
Sonam was reportedly given bail after the court found that the police had failed to properly inform her of the reasons for her arrest, which affected her defence.
Additional DC (Judicial), Shillong, Dashalene R Kharbteng, granted bail on her fourth plea, Live Law reported. The court noted that the "Intimation of Grounds of Arrest" form shown to her had the checkboxes unticked and also referred to a wrong penal section of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The court further considered that there was nothing on record to show that Sonam had legal representation when she was first produced before the court in Ghazipur on June 9, 2025. As a result, the plea regarding non-intimation of arrest grounds could not be raised earlier.
The Shillong court then granted her bail, subject to her furnishing a personal bond of ₹50,000 and other conditions.
Her lawyer argued that the trial had remained stalled for more than two months without any fault on her part. It was submitted that she could not be kept in pre-conviction detention for an unlimited period without trial.
Her counsel also said that at the time of arrest, the police failed to meet the legal requirement to inform her of the grounds of arrest, thereby violating Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India, the report said.
After hearing both sides, the court found that in all documents linked to Sonam, including the checklist justifying arrest and the case diary extract, the police had wrongly cited Section 403(1) Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The court observed that none of the documents informed her that she was actually being arrested for the more serious offence under Section 103(1) Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Meghalaya honeymoon murder case
The couple travelled to Guwahati and Shillong for their honeymoon on May 20, but they were reported missing on May 23.
After nearly 10 days of search operations, Raja's body was recovered on June 2 from a deep gorge in Sohra, in Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills district. Sonam later surrendered in Ghazipur.
She and four other accused, Raj Kushwaha, said to be Sonam's lover, along with alleged accomplices Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan, and Anand Kurmi, were arrested and remain in judicial custody.
In a 790-page chargesheet, the special investigation team (SIT) formally charged Raja’s wife Sonam Raghuvanshi, her alleged lover Raj Kushwaha, and three hired attackers, Vishal Singh Chauhan, Akash Rajput, and Anand Kurmi, under Sections 103(1), 238(a), and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, officials said.
