New Delhi: After Indore couple Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi disappeared on the third day of their honeymoon in Meghalaya, and Raja’s decomposed body was found a week later, a bloodstained shirt and a mangalsutra were the first clues that led Meghalaya Police to suspect Sonam in connection with his alleged murder, ThePrint has learnt.
Sonam was arrested Monday and is one of two prime suspects in the case. The other being her alleged boyfriend Raj Kushwaha, also under arrest.
Until Raja’s body was discovered in a gorge on 2 June, the Meghalaya Police had been pursuing multiple angles, including the possibility that the couple had been kidnapped or had fallen off somewhere accidentally. Investigators were scrambling for leads. The breakthrough came with the recovery of his body, but Sonam remained missing
“There was no ransom call. Her body wasn’t found anywhere in the area. Moreover, there was a blood-stained shirt found near the body. However, the shirt was intact so that revealed that someone had removed the shirt, possibly voluntarily and gone away from the area. CCTV footage of the couple showed Sonam wearing the same shirt before they left for Cherrapunji,” a senior police officer told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
Sources said that once Raghuvanshi’s body was found, robbery was ruled out as a motive. “It was unlikely that he was killed for a gold chain and ring. But to prove our case, we had to first zero down on the suspects’ location. We came to know that they had left Meghalaya,” the officer said.
The other important lead in the case was the discovery of Sonam’s mangalsutra, which was left behind in the luggage in their hotel in Shillong—odd for a newlywed woman, the police thought.
“This didn’t mean much until we found (Raja’s) body. All evidence at the time hinted that Sonam is alive,” the officer said.
Meanwhile, the police began scanning CCTV footage and questioning people, including staff at the homestays and hotels where the couple had stayed. Investigators started piecing together evidence while also analysing call data records from both Sonam and Raja’s phones.
Through the call data records, investigators started zeroing down on suspects.
“It was found that Sonam was in constant touch with one particular number. It was found that this person, Raj Kushwaha, is her lover and he was also known to the accused’s family. They wanted to pass it off as an outside job or a blind murder case,” another senior officer said to ThePrint.
Sources said that they started tracing the escape route and figured out that the suspects left Meghalaya the next day.
They added three men—Akash Rajput, Anand Kurmi and Vishal Singh Chauhan— who allegedly killed Raghuvanshi with a machete bought in Guwahati on 21–22 May, had stayed in Nongriat, the same village the couple arrived in on 22 May.
“The killers spent the night at the same village. They, too, trekked from Mawlakhiat to the Nongriat village on 22 May and spent the night there,” the second officer said.
So far, five people have been arrested in the case including Sonam and Raj Kushwaha.
Investigators say that there are several unanswered questions regarding the murder. “Things will be clearer when we are able to properly interrogate the accused. Sonam has been insisting she is innocent but nothing apart from that,” the first officer said.
“It is possible that they used a dao (machete) and not a knife or a different weapon to pass it off as some local person did it. But the dao was also different looking than what is available in the markets here. Things will be clearer as the probe progresses,” a third officer said.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)