Shillong, June 13: The ongoing investigation into the brutal murder of Indore tourist Raja Raghuvanshi in Sohra (Cherrapunji) has made a shocking discovery. The discovery was made during the ongoing interrogation of Sonam Raghuvanshi and four of her accomplices by Meghalaya Police, revealing a murder or a death was always part of the plan.

Police say the plot centred on making Sonam Raghuvanshi ‘disappear’ even before her marriage to Raja and its planning had started over 4 months back in Indore. Police now believe the murder was the final, desperate act after earlier schemes to fake her own disappearance or death failed.

East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police, Vivek Syiem, on Thursday revealed that Raj Kushwaha, the mastermind, and Sonam had been planning her ‘disappearance’ since February in Indore, long before her May 11 wedding to Raja.

“Right from the month of February in Indore, they had thought of ways where Sonam would disappear,” Syiem said.

Some of these plans included making her get washed by a river, another was to murder somebody, put her in her scooty, burn that person’s body and claim that it is Sonam’s; but all these things did not fructify.

Amidst all these plans came her marriage to Raja but the end result was already set beforehand – to kill and disappear!

Interrogation has revealed that Sonam and Raj allegedly hatched the plan to kill Raja 11 days before his marriage. Although Meghalaya was added to their itinerary quite late but it was never out of picture, since the plan was to eliminate Raja in the North East. Reasons being that it is very far from Indore and it would take long time for the information to travel back home.

Syiem detailed how the group made multiple failed attempts on Raja’s life. “When Raja and Sonam got married and they came for darshan to Kamakhya, the other group (of three assailants) had also come here,” the SP said. The trio – Vishal Singh Chauhan, Akash Rajput, and Anand Kurmi – had arrived in Guwahati on May 19, planning to kill Raja there and had done recce of the place (where murder was to be committed).

When that attempt failed, Sonam allegedly orchestrated a new plan involving a trip to Shillong and Sohra. Even in Meghalaya, their murderous intent was not immediately successful. They attempted to eliminate Raja in Nongriat but failed to find a place to dispose of the body. Another attempt between Mawlakhiat and Wai Sawdong also proved fruitless.

Finally, on May 23rd, between 2 PM and 2:18 PM, the alleged plot culminated in the parking lot of Wai Sawdong Falls. All three assailants took turns hacking Raja while Sonam stood by. She then reportedly joined them in throwing her husband’s body into the deep gorge. Raja’s highly decomposed body was recovered from the gorge on June 2.

“Raj is the mastermind,” Syiem reiterated, clarifying that the three assailants were not hired killers but friends of Raj who acted as a “favour”. Raj had given them Rs. 50,000 for expenditures, with police still probing if any larger financial or property angle exists beyond this.

Syiem noted that the reason for choosing Meghalaya to commit the crime was probably because they thought it was “very far away” and nobody would find the body in the deep gorge. Even if the body was found, it would take 2-3 months, and by this time the body would have decomposed beyond recognition, and the whole inquiry would have taken months or years. Even when the body would be found, she would have played the victim card as an abducted person, he said.

“They were probably hoping nobody would find that body as it is very far away and she would have played to be victim and probably she must have thought enquiry will take one-two months and body will be decomposed and we will not know. So, she plays the victim card,” the SP said.

Raj and Sonam’s almost pulled off their ‘perfect’ plan and Sonam did remain ‘disappeared’ for 17 days, until Meghalaya police cracked the case and began arresting the accused. In apparent panic, she surfaced in Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and surrendered before the UP police on June 9.

Police are continuing their intensive interrogation of all five accused, now in 8-day custody, to gather more details and ascertain facts and evidence in this complex and chilling case.

Police have also confirmed that Raja’s murder was a direct result of Sonam’s forced marriage with him, a union that was allegedly forced upon her by her family to be “within the society”.

Police said Sonam, 24, had been in a secret relationship with Raj Kushwaha, 21, who worked as an accountant at her family’s plywood business in Indore. But her family objected to her relationship with Raj. Sonam had reportedly warned her family of “consequences” if forced into the marriage, even threatening to “do something to that person” (Raja).

While her relatives initially described her as an “educated girl” who had completed her graduation and aspired to an MBA, her family reportedly discouraged her from working outside, instead asking her to assist her brother, Govind, in their business. Sonam herself managed various departments of her family’s business, including billing, accounts, and supervision.

Also Read: Police reveal ‘who’, ‘when’, ‘why’ & ‘how’ of Raja Raghuwanshi murder case

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