New Delhi: The plan to kill Raja Raghuvanshi was finalised on 10 May, a day before his wedding to Sonam, ThePrint has learnt. Sources said Raj Kushwaha, Sonam’s suspected boyfriend, allegedly gave Rs 50,000 in cash and a mobile phone to three men before they boarded a train to Guwahati with the motive to kill Raja.
All five—Sonam, Raj Kushwaha and the three men Akash Rajput, Anand Kurmi and Vishal Singh Chauhan—have been arrested.
According to sources, Sonam never told her family about her relationship with Kushwaha, who worked as an accountant for her family’s business, or that she didn’t want to marry Raja. Kushwaha, investigators said, had also never spoken of marriage to Sonam’s family.
Sources in the Madhya Pradesh police, which led a joint probe with the Meghalaya police in the murder case, said Kushwaha had asked the three men to only use the phone he gave them for communication with him.
“They were handed over the cash and the mobile phone before they boarded the train to Guwahati on 20 May. On the 22nd, they reached and drove down to Nongriat (in Meghalaya),” a senior police officer said.
On 22 May, Sonam and Raja were also in Nongriat after reaching Shillong on 21 May for their honeymoon. Raja was killed on the intervening night of 23-24 May and his body was dumped in a gorge.
After the murder, the three men hired by Kushwaha and Sonam left Meghalaya, stopping at Assam’s Guwahati and then reaching Uttar Pradesh.
While Sonam stayed in Uttar Pradesh, the other three went to Indore on 25 May.
Kushwaha never travelled to Meghalaya. He had stayed back to coordinate the plan, sources added.
No escape plan
Sources said that during interrogation Vishal Singh Chauhan confessed to having hit Raja with a machete (dao) first. The second blow came allegedly from Anand Kurmi. The sources said Sonam and Akash Rajput stood there, keeping an eye out.
Asked how the accused planned to evade police after the murder, the sources said while the accused meticulously planned the murder, they did not plan how to deal with the police after that.
The sources said the accused did discuss this among themselves but never decided on a plan.
“They weren’t sure of the next plan of action. They are also changing statements. First, they said they only wanted to injure him, and Sonam would elope with Raja after returning. But then they decided to kill him, after Sonam said her father would agree for her to marry anyone once she is a widow. They planned she would (hide somewhere) and surface later, claiming she was kidnapped, but their plan went for a toss,” a senior police officer said.
The accused have no previous criminal record. A second officer said, “It appears none of the accused thought through what they will do after the murder. Sonam was just going on hiding in Uttar Pradesh, panicking, and the others were in Madhya Pradesh.”
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)