Honeymoon murder: Accused stayed at Guwahati lodge days before killing Raja Raghuvanshi in Meghalaya
GUWAHATI: The men accused of killing Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi -- allegedly at the request of his wife and her boyfriend -- posed as tourists while briefly staying at a Guwahati lodge, according to the lodge management.
Speaking to TNIE, lodge manager Himanta Kalita said the alleged killers — Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan and Anand Kurmi — checked in on May 19 at 8:30 pm and left early the next morning at 5:30 am.
'They said they were tourists from Indore. We followed all the necessary formalities before allotting a room to them. They furnished their identity proof including Aadhaar cards. We have already shared the documents with the crime branch of the police. We don't give rooms to people if they cannot provide identity proof,' Kalita said.
On June 3, a day after Raghuvanshi's decomposed body was recovered from a deep gorge in the Sohra area (also known as Cherrapunji), Meghalaya Police recovered a machete, suspected to have been purchased in Guwahati and used in the murder.
Kalita said the three accused had backpacks when they checked into the lodge. 'But we didn't find them carrying any 'dao' (machete). There was nothing suspicious in their behaviour,' he said.
'The Meghalaya Police have called me. I am leaving for Shillong,' he added.
A Meghalaya Police team, assisted by Assam Police, raided the lodge located in Guwahati's Pan Bazar area on Wednesday. They searched the room where the trio had stayed and recorded the statements of lodge employees.
A Shillong court on Wednesday sent the three accused along with Sonam and her alleged boyfriend Raj Kushwaha to an eight-day police remand.
The Meghalaya police are likely to bring Sonam to her hometown Indore, where the conspiracy of the crime was hatched, a police official said.
The Meghalaya police have named their investigation in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case as 'Operation Honeymoon'.
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