Sonam Raghuvanshi is very much involved in murder, says Meghalaya Police; gets 8-day police custody of accused

Sonam Raghuvanshi and four others including her boyfriend Raj Kushwaha have been remanded in police custody for eight days by a Shillong court

GUWAHATI: The Meghalaya Police on Wednesday said there was strong evidence about Sonam Raghuvanshi’s involvement in the murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi at Sohra last month during their honeymoon with the help of three hired killers and her alleged boyfriend Raj Kushwaha.

“This is an ongoing investigation and we have to confirm a lot of things. We have enough evidence against them, but that will become clearer once we finish with their interrogation. There are a lot of loose ends that we need to tie up, we can confirm (them) only after her (Sonam’s) interrogation. In our evidence, it is proven that she is very much involved, it will become clear after her interrogation,” said Vivek Syiem, superintendent of police (SP) of Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district, where the crime had taken place, told reporters in Shillong.

Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi arrived in Meghalaya on May 21, and Raja was killed on May 23. Sonam, who is alleged to have plotted the murder with her lover, Raj Kushwaha, returned to Indore on May 27 by train and left for Ghazipur the following day. She turned up at a roadside eatery after Kushwaha and the alleged killers were detained on Sunday.

The five accused including Sonam were brought to the state from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh between Tuesday night and Wednesday noon, Syiem said, adding that investigators were yet to interrogate them.

Shillong’s district and sessions court on Wednesday remanded the five accused in police custody for eight days. The state police had asked for 10 days to thoroughly question the five accused to piece together the sequence of events from planning the murder to executing it, the escape from Meghalaya and their arrests and surrender. The five accused are expected to be taken to Sohra in the next few days to recreate the scene of the crime.

There have been unconfirmed reports that Sonam had claimed she was innocent and that she had been abducted in Meghalaya on May 23 when her husband was killed.

“Thorough interrogation will start after some time, and we will confirm a lot of facts. We have adequate evidence against all the accused in the seven days (since the recovery of Raja’s body on June 2). More evidence will come out after their thorough interrogation,” Syiem said.

The police officer asked news outlets not to publish speculative stories and to release factual information received from the police. “The facts will come out after thorough interrogation, and we corroborate different things because versions could be different from different accused,” he added.

He said that while the police have confirmation of Sonam’s involvement in the murder, the extent and nature of her involvement will only come out after more investigation over the next few days.

Sonam, who was granted three-day transit remand by a Ghazipur court in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, reached Shillong late on Tuesday. She was kept overnight at the Sadar police station after her medical examination.

The other four accused, Raj Kushwaha, Vishal Chauhan, Anand Kurmi and Akash Thakur, who were brought from Indore, reached Guwahati early on Wednesday morning and were then taken to Shillong by road. They also underwent medical examination before being produced in court.