Meghalaya honeymoon murder case: Court sends Sonam Raghuvanshi, aides to 8-day police custody

The Meghalaya court on Wednesday granted eight-day custody of accused Sonam Raghuvanshi and aides to the police in the recent honeymoon murder case.

Sonam Raghuvanshi and four others, who were accused of killing her Indore-based businessman husband Raja Raghuvanshi during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, were produced before a court in Shillong on Wednesday, police said.

Sonam was taken to the North Eastern state late on Tuesday while the four others were brought here on Wednesday on transit remand, a senior officer said. The 24-year-old woman was arrested from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, while her aides were apprehended from Indore in Madhya Pradesh for their alleged role in conspiring and killing Raja Raghuvanshi.


What happened in Meghalaya?
The chilling murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, which occurred during his honeymoon with wife Sonam in Meghalaya last month, has left the nation shocked.

Raja (29) and Sonam got married here on May 11. They went missing during their honeymoon trip to the north-eastern state on May 23. Raja's body was found 10 days later in a deep gorge near a waterfall in Sohra area (also known as Cherrapunji) of East Khasi Hills district on June 2.

Sonam, who was initially reported missing in Meghalaya, surfaced in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur on Sunday night where she surrendered after her alleged accomplices Akash Rajput (19), Vishal Singh Chauhan (22), and Anand Kurmi were arrested for their alleged role in conspiring and killing Raghuvanshi. Raj Singh Kushwaha (21), the alleged conspirator, was arrested later.

Sonam made the first phone call to Govind before she surrendered before the police in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur.

"During the phone call, she was crying miserably and was very nervous. I informed the police myself and got her to surrender," Govind said. Later, he had a meeting with Sonam only for two minutes in Uttar Pradesh, when she was in the custody of the Meghalaya police. "During this meeting, I could not talk much to Sonam. She did not confess her crime to me," he said.

According to him, Sonam had told him that the honeymoon tickets were booked by Raja Raghuvanshi and the newly-married couple had only planned to go to Guwahati.

Accused Sonam's maternal home is located in Indore's Govind Nagar Kharcha area. She handled the family business of lamination sheets used in furniture.

According to the local police, Raj Kushwaha, who was reportedly romantically involved with Sonam and accused of plotting the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, is a 12th dropout and worked as an accountant at the lamination sheet unit owned by Sonam's family.