Sonam Acted Tired, Walked Behind Husband, Then Yelled "Kill Him": Sources
Sonam Raghuvanshi allegedly conspired to murder her husband, Raja, shortly after their wedding.
Raja's wife and her lover hired three friends as contract killers to execute the plan.
The murder took place during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, where the killers followed the couple.
New Delhi:
In a sinister murder case, all it took was five days, a meeting at a cafe, and a one-way honeymoon trip to Meghalaya to kill Raja Raghuvanshi, an Indore-based businessman. The plan was allegedly hatched by his wife, Sonam, and her lover, Raj Kushwaha - who hired his three friends as 'contract killers'.
Five days after Raja and Sonam got married, Raj called his childhood friends - Anand Kumri (23), Akash Rajput (19), and Vishal Singh Chauhan (22) - to a cafe in Madhya Pradesh's Indore to plan the killing of Raja. He lured them with money to commit the crime, sources said.
On May 20, Raja and Sonam left for their honeymoon in Meghalaya, with a one-way ticket in hand and the three killers following them to the Northeast. Sources said that Raj sent his friends to Guwahati first on May 20, where they ordered an axe online. From there, they went to Shillong and stayed at a hotel near Sonam and Raja's homestay.
The newly-wed couple, meanwhile, roamed around the breathtaking hills for three days. But on May 23, Sonam took Raja to a hilly area on the pretext of a photoshoot. The three accused also followed them and initially spoke to Raja in Hindi. Eventually, Sonam pretended to be tired and started walking much behind her husband and the killers.
As the five people reached a deserted place, Sonam shouted "kill him" - to the killers, sources said.
All this while, Sonam's lover Raj was not in the scene. He did not travel to Meghalaya, but Shillong Police sources suggest he did the planning behind the scenes and was in touch with Sonam.
Raja's body was recovered from a deep gorge beneath the Weisawdong Parking Lot at Riat Arliang on June 2, ten days after the brutal crime. A machete, suspected to be the murder weapon, was also recovered. His preliminary autopsy report revealed that he was attacked twice - once each on the back and front of his head.
Weeks later, the 24-year-old 'missing' wife was found in an unconscious state on Saturday night at a 'dhaba' in Ghazipur. She was taken to the Ghazipur Medical College for treatment, where she surrendered before the police, and was subsequently taken into custody. The three accused were also arrested in overnight raids.
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