Sonam Raghuvanshi has confessed that she was part of the plan to kill her newly married husband Raja at Sohra last month, a police official said on Thursday.
“Yes, she (Sonam) has confessed that she was part of the conspiracy. she was blaming Raj and he in turn was putting the blame on Sonam,” Deputy Inspector General of Police of Eastern Range, Davis Marak said.
The five accused, including Sonam, Raj and three alleged contract killers – Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan and Anand Kurmi are being interrogated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Meghalaya police after a local court on Wednesday sent them to eight days of police custody.
Maintaining that Sonam and Raj continue to be the prime suspect in the murder case, Marak said that both the accused are allegedly having an affair.
“As of now, they continue to be the prime accused. However, who is the actual mastermind, who actually started this plot, that needs to be established at this stage,” he stated.
Whether Sonam had promised to pay Rs 20 lakh to the contract killers, Marak said, “That is under investigation and this is what we are asking the accused persons at this stage so at this stage I will not be able to inform that.”
During the interrogation, Marak said, Sonam denied hitting Raja and from the statements of the accused persons, it appeared that the hired contract killers had actually killed him on May 23 at Wei Sawdong, from where the decomposed body of the victim was retrieved on June 2.
Marak also revealed that three scooters were hired from Shillong, one of which was used by Sonam and Raja and was abandoned at Sohra Rim.
Police have seized the scooter, while investigation regarding the other two scooters was on.
All the accused would be taken to the spot of the crime for reconstruction of the sequence of events after interrogation is completed, police said.
Autopsy report describes injuries as ‘homicidal’
The autopsy was conducted at NEIGRIHMS, Shillong, classified the nature of Raja’s injuries as “homicidal”.
A copy of the autopsy report is only available with Nagaland Post.
“The death is due to head injury resulting from the injury No. 1 and fracture of skull as described. Injury No. 1 and fracture to the skull are antemortem and caused by moderately heavy, sharp cutting weapon and homicidial in nature. However, the visceras are also preserved for toxicological analysis to rule out poisoning,”the autopsy report stated.
“Skull cut fracture over the left parietal bone and part of frontal bone of size 7 cm x 0.1 cm, 4.5 cm left to midline and 8 cm above left supraorbital ridge. The area is depressed. Behind this fracture the outer table of the skull is missing of size of 4.5 cm x 1.5 cm and continues as a linear fracture. Cut fracture over the occipital bone on the midline of sizes 5.5 cm x 0.1, 1 cm below external occipital protuberance,” the autopsy report explained
Further, the report stated that the dura mater, the tough outer membrane protecting the brain, was severed beneath the parietal fracture, indicating the depth and force of the injury.
Due to advanced decomposition, the condition of the neck could not be fully assessed. There was no visible injury to the vertebrae, and soft tissue damage in the neck area could not be confirmed as the skin and connective tissue were missing.
Raja was reported missing on May 23, along with his newly wedded wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi. Eight days later, Meghalaya police found his partially decomposed body was discovered on June 2 near Wei Sawdong Falls during an extended search operation.
Meghalaya police registered a murder case following the recovery of Raja’s decomposed and formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) code-named “Operation Honeymoon”.
Sonam, the prime accused in the murder of her husband Raja, was arrested on Monday from Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh and four other accused were nabbed from Madhya Pradesh.
All five have been remanded to police custody for eight days following a court order on June 11.
‘Mangalsutra’, ring left behind at homestay helped police crack case: DGP
Shillong, Jun 12 (PTI): Raja Raghuvanshi and his wife Sonam had left their suitcase at a homestay in Sohra before going missing, and the ‘mangalsutra’ and a ring found in it helped investigators crack the honeymoon murder case, Meghalaya DGP, I Nongrang, said.
Sonam (25) and Raja (29) got married in Indore on May 11 and reached Meghalaya via Guwahati in Assam on May 20 for their honeymoon. Both of them went missing on May 23 in Sohra in East Khasi Hills district, hours after checking out of a homestay at Nongriat village.
“We recovered Sonam’s ‘mangalsutra’ and a ring from the suitcase the couple abandoned at a homestay in Sohra. A married woman leaving behind the ornaments gave us a clue to pursue her as a suspect in the case,” Nongrang told PTI on Wednesday evening. ‘Mangalsutra’ is a necklace worn by married Hindu women.
Raja’s body was found in a gorge near Weisawdong Falls on June 2. A search continued for Sonam, who emerged in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur, around 1,200 km away, in the early hours of June 9 and surrendered. Police have also arrested her boyfriend Raj Kushwaha and three contract killers.
The couple walked into the homestay in Sohra on May 22 without any prior booking, another police officer, who is part of the investigation, told PTI.
They did not get a room there, and thus, decided to keep their suitcase at the homestay, as it would have been difficult to trek over 3,000 steps with it to the Nongriat village to see the double-decker root bridge, he said.
While their suitcase remained at the Sohra homestay, they spent the night at another homestay in Nongriat before checking out early on May 23. They trekked back to Sohra, took their scooter from the parking and went to Weisawdong Falls, where Raja was allegedly killed.
Sonam, Raj accuse each other of being mastermind
of honeymoon murder: Meghalaya Police
Shillong, Jun 12 (PTI): Sonam Raghuvanshi confessed to be part of the conspiracy to kill her husband Raja during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, and accused Raj Kushwaha of being the mastermind of the Indore-based businessman’s murder, a senior police officer said on Thursday.
On the other hand, Kushwaha, Sonam’s suspected boyfriend, put the blame for orchestrating the murder on her, Deputy Inspector General of Police DNR Marak said on Thursday.
Sonam and Kushwaha are among the five people arrested in connection with the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, whose decomposed body was recovered from a gorge in Sohra area of East Khasi Hills district on June 2.
“Sonam confessed to be a part of the conspiracy to kill her husband but we are yet to establish who the mastermind of the plot is. Both Sonam and Raj are blaming each other,” Marak told PTI.
He said the investigation has started to unearth the conspiracy.
“There are inconsistencies in the statements collected individually of all the accused persons. We are also investigating the amount of money Sonam promised to pay to the hitmen and how much she had already paid,” Marak said.
According to the senior officer, the police are verifying if any of them had made a recce of Sohra and the jungles of Nongriat before. The couple had stayed at a homestay in Nongriat.
None of the accused so far admitted to have conducted a recce, he said.
The SIT conducting the probe into the murder is seeking assistance from the police in Assam and other states to link all evidence in the case.
The three hired killers from Indore stopped over for a night in Guwahati and procured from there a machete that was later used to kill Raja, he said.
The three and the couple arrived in the Meghalaya capital Shillong around the same time before they started for Sohra, about 65 km from here, last month, Marak said.
Raja (29) and Sonam (24) went missing in the hills of Sohra on May 23, while his body was found in a gorge near Weisawdong Falls on June 2.
A search continued for Sonam, who emerged in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur, around 1,200 km away, in the early hours of June 9 and surrendered. Police have also arrested her boyfriend Raj Kushwaha and three contract killers.