New Delhi: What began as a honeymoon in the hills of Meghalaya turned into a tale of death and mystery. Newlyweds Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi, visiting from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, went missing on 23 May near the popular tourist destination of Cherrapunji. On Monday, more than 2 weeks after they went missing, Sonam surrendered to police in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh.
On 2 June, Raja’s decomposed body was found at the base of a gorge, raising suspicions of foul play. The search had then turned to Sonam. After 17 days underground, she surrendered to police.
Now under arrest, Sonam is the prime suspect in the case, accused of orchestrating her husband’s murder by allegedly hiring assailants.
Meghalaya Police suspects that Raja was killed on 23 May during the day, between 1:30-2 pm.
The police found that their phones had been switched off with their last location in Cherrapunji, East Khasi hills.
According to the police, Sonam allegedly arranged for her husband to be killed during the couple’s honeymoon, reportedly hiring killers to carry out the deed. After the crime, she fled to Ghazipur.
Speaking to ThePrint, sources in the Meghalaya police said that preliminary probe suggests Sonam and “her lover” had planned the murder “meticulously” before she got married to Raja on 11 May and the plan was to pass it off as a “robbery bid”.
Apart from Sonam, four people have been arrested so far in the case over the past couple of days.
The arrested accused include Raj Kushwaha, Akash Rajput, Anand Kurmi and Vishal Singha Chauhan. According to sources Kushwaha is one of the masterminds behind the murder.
Raj Kushwaha used to work at a small plywood factory owned by Sonam’s father. Sonam often visited the office there, and over time, the two fell in love, said sources.
“We arrested them based on technical surveillance. Through technical analysis, the locations of the suspects were identified. The first person was zeroed down in Lalitpur and then the other two were arrested. Sonam was arrested from Ghazipur,” D.N.R. Marak, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Meghalaya, said to ThePrint. “Further investigation is on.”
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Sources said that Sonam had left Meghalaya immediately after the alleged murder. Raja’s body was found on 2 June inside a deep gorge below the Wei Sawdong Falls’s parking lot area in Riat Arliang. Speaking to the media, Ghazipur SP Iraj Raja said Ghazipur Police was informed about Sonam’s presence at Kashi dhaba on the Varanasi-Ghazipur road. She was then taken for treatment and the Meghalaya Police was contacted. She surrendered at around 3-3.30 am at the Nandganj Police Station in Ghazipur after which she was arrested.
“It appears that Sonam panicked after the men were picked up. She was in touch with Raj Kushwaha. The accused said that Sonam and her lover had asked them to kill the victim,” a senior police officer said.
“This outcome is the result of round-the-clock efforts by the Meghalaya Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT), supported by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), local intelligence units, and law enforcement agencies across multiple states. Despite geographical and logistical challenges, our teams remained steadfast in their commitment to upholding the rule of law. Further investigation is on in the matter,” S.R. Marak, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Meghalaya, said in a statement.
The first major breakthrough in the case came with the discovery of Raja’s decomposed body. Several of his personal belongings—including a gold ring and chain—were missing, fuelling suspicions of foul play.
Soon after, police recovered a bloodstained machete believed to be the murder weapon. A black raincoat, possibly stained with blood, was also found near the site. investigators are working to determine if it belonged to Sonam.
The couple’s rented scooter was recovered the day after their disappearance. It had been abandoned by the roadside near a café along the Shillong–Sohra highway, with the keys still in the ignition.
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CCTV footage & witness accounts
According to police, Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi arrived in Shillong around 6 pm on 21 May and checked into Balaji Hotel. The next day, they set out on a rented scooter towards Cherrapunji, where they hired a local guide and trekked to Shipara Homestay in Nongriat village. On the morning of 23 May, they were last seen checking out of the homestay, with their mobile locations last traced to Nongriat. CCTV footage from the same day shows the couple dropping off luggage at a homestay, with a red car seen trailing them—raising suspicions that they were being followed.
Two days later, Meghalaya Police recovered a bloodstained machete near the area, suspected to have been used in the crime and sent it for forensic testing.
Eyewitness accounts have added further intrigue. A local guide, Albert Pde, reportedly claimed that he spotted the couple around 10 am on 23 May while they were trekking from Nongriat to Mawlakhiat.
He said that the couple was accompanied by three unfamiliar men, adding that the couple appeared tired from the descent—reportedly having walked down nearly 3,000 steps to reach the scenic double-decker living root bridges. Oddly, they returned without a guide the next morning, and were not seen again after that.
Witnesses reportedly also described Sonam as appearing visibly tense during a phone call while walking away from Raja. This behaviour, combined with the CCTV footage and guide’s testimony, intensified suspicions of a possible third-party involvement.
While Meghalaya Police say they tracked her location using technical surveillance, Sonam’s family claims she returned of her own will and has nothing to hide. Her father, Devi Singh, has accused the police of manipulating the narrative and insists his daughter is innocent. “She went to Ghazipur to take shelter after being mentally harassed. Now they are trying to blame her,” he said.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma congratulated the state police for the “major breakthrough” achieved in the Raja murder case.
“Within 7 days a major breakthrough has been achieved by the #meghalayapolice in the Raja murder case … 3 assailants who are from Madhya Pradesh have been arrested, female has surrendered and operation still on to catch 1 more assailant .. well done,” he wrote on X.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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