Meghalaya Police Knew Sonam Raghuvanshi Was Involved in Husband Raja’s Murder Before Her Surrender: Report

Meghalaya Police Knew Sonam Raghuvanshi Was Involved in Husband Raja’s Murder Before Her Surrender: The Meghalaya Police knew on June 3, a day after they found the body of Raja Raghuvanshi in a gorge, that Sonam Raghuvanshi was involved in the honeymoon murder. The Meghalaya Police has claimed that all those involved in the conspiracy to kill the man from Indore have been arrested in the operation that they codenamed 'Operation Honeymoon'.

There were 20 core members in the team that cracked the 'missing-turned-murder mystery' case, sources in the police said. 120 police personnel were involved in the case, they added.

Sonam, who vanished on May 23 near Wei Sawdong Falls in East Khasi Hills, reappeared gaunt and silent in Ghazipur on June 9, a week after Raja's body was found in a gorge near the falls parking lot on June 2. While she had claimed abduction and drugging, Indore police rejected the claim outright.

"We have information that Sonam reached Indore between May 25 and May 27 by train and stayed in a rented room in Dewas Gate," said additional DCP (crime branch) Rajesh Dandotiya. "Raj Kushwaha, her co-accused, met her there. He later arranged a taxi to UP."

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Police believe Sonam left Shillong soon after the crime, taking an intentionally convoluted route through Siliguri, travelling to Guwahati and then boarding a train to Patna. From there, she appears to have taken an indirect route to Indore, dodging flight bookings and digital footprints to confuse investigators. A senior UP police official confirmed, "We have CCTV footage of her getting off a Guwahati-Patna train.

“All the accused have been arrested from different places - one in Madhya Pradesh, the other in Uttar Pradesh. An SIT of Meghalaya Police went down to these two places. Some of them have also confessed to the crime they committed. The moment we were able to pick Sonam Raghuvanshi, being the prime suspect in the killing, we all came to know that she is fully involved in this operation during their stay here in Meghalaya,” the deputy CM said.

NDTV reported that Meghalaya Police claimed to have arrested all individuals connected to the plot to kill Raja, a resident of Indore, as part of an investigation codenamed 'Operation Honeymoon'.

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Raja Raghuvanshi and his wife Sonam had gone to Meghalaya for their honeymoon days after their May 11 wedding. They went missing on May 23. Raghuvanshi's body was found in a gorge near a waterfall in Sohra area (also known as Cherrapunji) of East Khasi Hills district on June 2.

On May 23, Sonam Raghuvanshi left Meghalaya for Indore, where she met with his alleged lover and the co-conspirator in the murder, Raj Kushwaha, the sources said.

She stayed at a rented room in Indore for a day, and then she was dropped by a driver to Uttar Pradesh.

Sonam Raghuvanshi surrendered before the Nandganj Police Station in Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh and was later placed under arrest, according to the Meghalaya police.

The couple did not take any photos of themselves in Maghalaya, and that's what made the cops suspicious, the sources said.

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