Meghalaya Honeymoon Murder: Crime scene recreation likely on Tuesday
Raghuvanshi and his wife had gone missing while vacationing in Sohra area in the East Khasi Hills district on May 23.
Guwahati: The Meghalaya Police, which is probing the murder of Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, is expected to take all the five accused in the case including his wife Sonam to the spot where the former was killed to recreate the crime scene.
I Nongrang, Meghalaya's director general of police (DGP) told journalists in Shillong on Monday that recreation of the crime scene, by taking all the accused to the murder spot, Wei Sawdong Falls in Sohra, around 50 km away from the state capital, is likely to take place on Tuesday.
The fiver persons arrested in the case are Sonam Raghuvanshi and four men, including Raj Kushwaha, Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan, and Anand Kurmi.
"Investigation is going on and a lot of loose ends are being tied up. We are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the investigation is fool-proof. We do have a very solid case. We do have enough evidence and we are hoping to complete investigation and the case is charge sheeted within the mandated time," she said.
The DGP said that the interrogation hasn't reached a 'final stage' as police are trying to corroborate 'contradictory statements' given by some of the accused, in order to prepare a detailed timeline of the crime and the exact roles of each of the accused.
She said the police is expected to seek an extension of their custody, after the ongoing custody period ends tomorrow, for a few more days to continue the interrogation and take the investigation ahead.
Nongrang said that while the love triangle involving Raja, Sonam and her alleged boyfriend Raj Kushwaha seems to be the prime motive behind the murder, there could be other motives.
Raghuvanshi and his wife went missing while vacationing in Sohra area in the East Khasi Hills district on May 23. A scooter that the couple had hired from Shillong was found there on May 24 and a missing complaint was lodged by Raja’s family.
Raghuvanshi's body was found in a gorge near Weisawdong Falls on June 2. A gold ring and a neck chain were missing from his body.
A day later, a bloodstained machete was found nearby, and two days later, a raincoat that was similar to the one used by the couple was found in Mawkma village, halfway between Sohrarim and the gorge where Raghuvanshi's body was found.
Investigations revealed that Kushwaha allegedly hired his friends Vishal Thakur, Anand Kurmi and Akash Thakur to murder her husband. A sum of ₹50,000 was paid to them as expenses during their trip to Meghalaya.
Police arrested all the accused on June 8-9 from different locations in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. They were brought to Shillong on June 10 and produced in a court the next day, which sent all of them to police custody for eight days.
