Five accused charge-sheetedin Raghuvanshi murder case

A lower court in Meghalaya has framed charges against five accused in the murder of Indore-based businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, who was on a honeymoon vacation with his newly-married wife Sonam at Sohra, where he was killed on May 26, 2025.
Charges were framed on Tuesday against Sonam, her lover Raj Kushwaha, besides Vishal Chauhan, Akash Rajput and Anand Kurmi, who were hired from Madhya Pradesh to murder Raja, Special Prosecutor KC Gautam said on Wednesday.
He said the court framed charges under Sections 103(1) for murder, 238 (a) for intentionally destroying or hiding evidence and 61(2) for criminal conspiracy of Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita. Gautam said all the five accused now will stand for trial soon.
The maximum punishment attracted in the case is death sentence. All the accused denied the allegations against them.
The Special Investigation Team, constituted by the Meghalaya Police to probe into the murder, had retrieved the body of Raghuvanshi from a deep gorge near Wei Sawdong Waterfall at Sohra on June 2 this year
On September 5, Meghalaya police have filed a charge-sheet against a 790-page charge sheet against five persons in the murder of Raja. “It is conclusively established that Sonam Raghuvanshi was in a relationship with Raj Kushwaha and a criminal conspiracy was hatched by Raj Kushwaha along with Sonam and the three assailants to murder Raja Raghuvanshi under the pretext of a honeymoon to Sohra,” Vivek Syiem, the district police chief of East Khasi Hills, had said.
He said a supplementary charge sheet will be filed against the other three other co-accused, property dealer Silome James, Lokendra Tomar, the owner of the building where Sonam was hiding after the murder of Raja, and security guard Balbir Ahirbar.
James, Tomar and Ahirbar, were arrested from three places in Madhya Pradesh on charges of destruction and concealment of evidence in connection with the murder of Raja, are currently on bail.
The murder of Raja came to light after villagers found an abandoned two-wheeler with keys on it at Sohrarim village between Shillong and Sohra Road on May 24. The two-wheeler was hired by Raja and Sonam from Meghalaya’s capital Shillong for four days.