Shillong, June 19: Sonam Raghuvanshi and her alleged lover Raj Singh Kushwaha were on Thursday remanded to another two days of police custody while the three other accused – Vishal Singh Chauhan, Akash Rajput, and Anand Kurmi – were sent to 14 days of judicial custody in connection with murder of Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi in Sohra.
All five were produced before the Sessions Court in Shillong on Thursday evening after the expiry of 8 days of police custody.
“Sonam and Raj were again sent to two days police custody and others – Anand, Akash and Vishal – were sent to 14 days judicial custody,” Public prosecutor T. Chanda told reporters after coming out of the court room.
On Tuesday, the SIT had successfully completed the reconstruction of the crime scene, which led to recovery of the second machete suspected to have been used in the murder from near Wei Sawdong Falls. The SIT had visited a number of places right from the parking lot at Mawlakhiat where they parked their rented two wheelers up to Wei Sawdong parking lot where the crime was committed. According to police, the accused persons had hacked Raja to death at the parking lot near Wei Sawdong Falls and dumped his body in the adjacent gorge on May 23.
On Wednesday, a Meghalaya Police team visited Sonam’s maternal residence, interrogating her family—particularly her brother Govind Raghuvanshi—for atleast 2 hours. Visits were also made to Govind’s office and the family-owned plywood factory as part of the probe.
The investigation has since expanded to multiple locations, including Varanasi, where Sonam reportedly travelled under suspicious circumstances. Police have also taken statement of Ujala Yadav, a resident to Ghazipur, who claimed to have seen Sonam at the Varanasi bus terminal accompanied by two unidentified men and later sat beside her on a Gorakhpur-bound bus.
Indore has also come under scrutiny, as it’s believed to be the origin point of the murder plot. Notably, Raja and Sonam were married there on May 11. Just twelve days later, on May 23, Raja was murdered in Sohra, Meghalaya. His decomposed body was found on June 2 in a deep gorge near the Wei Sawdong Falls parking area.
The investigation gained momentum on June 8–9, when four men—Raj Kushwaha, Vishal Singh Chauhan, Akash Rajput, and Anand Kurmi—were arrested from various locations across Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Sonam surrendered on June 9 at Nandganj police station in Ghazipur. All five accused were brought to Shillong on June 11 and initially remanded to eight days of police custody.
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