Meghalaya honeymoon murder: Sonam ‘watched Raja Raghuvanshi die’; accused ‘confess’ to killing him | 10 updates

Meghalaya's deputy CM Prestone Tynsong said some suspects in Raja Raghuvanshi's murder case have confessed, implicating his wife Sonam as ‘fully involved’.

Meghalaya deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong said some of the accused in the Indore-based businessman Raja Raghuvanshi's murder case have already confessed to the crime, and that Sonam Raghuvanshi, the wife, is also “fully involved”.

Raja Raghuvanshi with Sonam Raghuvanshi after their wedding.(File)

“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.

Top 10 updates on Raja Raghuvanshi murder in Meghalaya

1. All four accused – Akash Rajput (19), Vishal Singh Chauhan (22), Raj Singh Kushwaha (21) and Anand Kurmi –  have confessed to the crime, ACP (Indore Crime Branch), Poonamchand Yadav said. “We have recovered the clothes that he (Vishal Chauhan) had worn whilst he was in Shillong on the day of the incident. They have accepted that they have committed the murder. We are searching for his mobile,” Poonamchand Yadav told Hindustan Times earlier.

2. Shillong Police, along with Indore Crime Branch, on Tuesday searched the residence of one of the four accused, Vishal Chauhan, and claimed to have found the clothes he was wearing on the day of the murder.
3. Yadav, who also spoke to India Today TV, said the accused not only admitted to carrying out the murder but also revealed that Raja Raghuvanshi's wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi, was present at the scene and “watched her husband die".

4. Some reports also claimed that Sonam Raghuvanshi was so determined to kill Raja Raghuvanshi that she planned to push him off a mountain herself if the hired men failed.
5. On Wednesday, the four accused in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case were brought to Shillong. Sonam Raghuvanshi is also kept at the Shillong Sadar Police Station. The Meghalaya Police team brought the accused to Shillong Sadar Police Station after obtaining their seven-day transit remand for further investigation in the case.

6. A passenger slapped an accused arrested in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case at the Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport in Indore on Tuesday night, eyewitnesses said. A video of the incident went viral.
7. The Indore Police said Sonam was in contact with Raj even after marriage and on May 16, Raj reportedly discussed the murder plan with his cousin, Vishal Chauhan, and his friends Akash Rajput and Anand Kurmi in a restaurant in Indore. Chauhan, Rajput and Kurmi left for Meghalaya the next day with ₹50,000 and a mobile phone provided by Raj, who stayed back in Indore and continued to work at the factory of Sonam’s brother.
8. The mother of Raj Kushwaha claimed that his son is being "trapped" and “can never do something like this”. She requested to save her son. Speaking to ANI, his mother said, “My son is not like that; he can never do something like this. He is very young and used to taking care of his three sisters after his father passed away. He started working at Govind's (brother of Sonam Raghuvanshi) office. My husband passed away in 2020. After that, Raj has taken care of our family. Please save my son, this is my only request. I have no idea about any relationship between Sonam and my son. My son is being trapped. I don't know who is behind this... I can't even visit Meghalaya; I have no one to take me there.”
9. After the incident, Sonam is said to have driven from Shillong to Guwahati and then returned to Indore by train, reaching by May 27, Hindustan Times earlier reported. The Indore Police said this information was shared by their counterparts in Meghalaya.
10. On May 28, Sonam left for Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh where she was later arrested on Monday, June 9, said the Indore Police. Ghazipur is the hometown of Raj Kushwaha. 

(With inputs from Shruti Tomar in Bhopal)