The murder of a man from Madhya Pradesh's Indore who had gone to Meghalaya for his honeymoon has led to a series of revelations including the police alleging that she hired to kill her husband as she was involved with one of the accused.
A district court in Indore has sent the five accused to seven days custody.
The couple, Sonam and Raja Raghuvanshi went missing on May 23 before Raja's highly decomposed body with fatal head injuries was found on June 2 near Weisawdong falls following which the bloodstained machete and other items were also recovered.
They got married on May 11 in Indore and they left for Meghalaya for their honeymoon on May 20.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) is probing the case that includes SDRF, NDRF, and intelligence agencies.
Case So Far
Sonam Raghuvanshi has been accused of orchestrating the murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi, was produced before a local court in Ghazipur on Monday night for transit remand permission, following which she was expected to be taken into custody by a Meghalaya Police team that reached here in the evening.
The court proceedings continued till late in the night.
According to the Times Of India, after being taken into custody, Sonam told Ghazipur police, 바카라œI didn바카라™t kill my husband. They killed him for the jewellery," as she referred to the four other accused Raj Kushwaha, Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan, and Anand Kurmi.
According to the Meghalaya police, she reportedly surrendered before the Nandganj Police Station in Ghazipur district in adjoining Uttar Pradesh and was later placed under arrest.
Sonam had allegedly hired killers to get rid of her husband during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, just days after their marriage in Indore, they said.
She was allegedly in love with Kushwaha, as per officials.
Court Sends Accused To Custody
A 23-year-old accused in the murder of Indore transport businessman Raja Raghuvanshi was on Tuesday produced in a district court which sent him to transit custody of the Meghalaya police for seven days, a police official said.
The Meghalaya police produced accused Anand Kurmi (23) before the court, Indore's Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Dandotia told PTI.
The court sent Kurmi to transit custody till June 16 on the request of the Meghalaya police, he said.
Kurmi was brought to Indore after being detained from Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh on Monday, the official said.
Three other accused arrested in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case - Raj Kushwaha, Vishal Chauhan and Akash Rajput - were sent to the Meghalaya police's transit custody for seven days by the court on Monday.
"The Meghalaya police will take all the four accused with them on the basis of the transit custody," the official said.
The four accused are in the age group of 20 to 25 years and their no previous criminal record has been found in local police stations, he said.
Meghalaya Tourist Guide Helped Police Uncover Accused
A local tourist guide who alerted police about the presence of three unidentified men accompanying newlyweds Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi on the day they went missing last month on Tuesday said he is satisfied that his information helped crack the case.
Albert Pde, the guide at Mawlakhiat told PTI, "I am happy that the criminals are finally behind the bars." "We stand vindicated. Those who tried to tarnish the image of Sohra and its people as violent have now been exposed," said a visibly relieved Pde.
Pde had said he saw the couple accompanied by three male tourists as they were climbing over 3,000 steps from Nongriat to Mawlakhiat around 10 am on May 23.
According to the guide, "the four men, including Raja, were walking ahead while the woman was behind. The four men conversed in Hindi," he said, admitting that he was not very conversant in the language.
Pde had initially offered his services to walk them to Nongriat on May 22, but they politely refused and hired another guide identified as Bha Wansai, who dropped them at Shipara homestay.
One Of Accused Allegedly Attended Victim's Funeral
Raj Singh Kushwaha, One of the persons arrested for alleged involvement in the murder of Indore-based businessman Raja Raghuvanshi in Meghalaya had taken people to the latter's funeral here, as per an eyewitness.
Lakshman Singh Rathore, a neighbour of the accused woman's family told PTI, "When Raja's body arrived here, Sonam's family, whose home is in Govind Nagar Kharcha area, had arranged four-five vehicles for people to attend the funeral. Kushwaha was driving the four-wheeler in which I went, though we did not talk. Only after seeing his photograph in the media after his arrest, I recollected this episode."
Sonam's father Devi Singh Raghuvanshi has, however, claimed Kushwaha's name was being wrongly linked to his daughter and threatened to send a legal notice to Meghalaya police.
