Meghalaya honeymoon murder: What Raja Raghuvanshi's mother asked Govind about Sonam during his visit?

Mint

a day ago

Raja Raghuvanshi's mother, Uma Raghuvanshi, has spoken out following a meeting between her daughter-in-law Sonam's brother, Govind, and Sonam herself. Uma revealed that Govind expressed his anguish over the murder of Raja and was unequivocal in his condemnation of Sonam. 'Govind said that Sonam should be hanged. He is pained for Raja, not Sonam,' she said, emphasising that her son's brother is not at fault for the tragic events.
Uma also recounted her conversation with Govind about his brief encounter with Sonam. 'I asked Govind if he met Sonam. He said that he met her for three minutes. I asked him why he did not hit her. He said that he did not get a chance as there was media and police present,' she stated.
The brother of Sonam Raghuvanshi, accused of plotting the murder of her Indore-based husband Raja during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, on Wednesday said he is "100 per cent" sure his sister orchestrated the crime and asserted she should be hanged if found guilty.
A distraught Govind Raghuvanshi, brother of Sonam, declared his family has snapped all ties with his sister and expressed solidarity with Raja's grieving family members and vowed to help them in their fight for justice in a case which has shocked the nation.
A court in Meghalaya's capital Shillong, on Wednesday, sent Sonam Raghuvanshi and her four aides arrested for the murder last month to eight-day police custody.
The special investigation team probing the sensational case sought police custody of the accused to reconstruct the crime scene in Sohra (also known as Cherrapunji), where the body was recovered on June 2.
Brother of Sonam Raghuvanshi, Govind, mourns with the Mother of Raja Raghuvanshi, Uma Raghuvanshi, in Indore on Wednesday
In Indore, Govind Raghuvanshi visited Raja's house to console the latter's family members. Sharing the family's grief, he hugged Raja's mother Uma and broke down.
Raja (29) and Sonam (24) got married on May 11 and went "missing" during their honeymoon trip to the north-eastern state on May 23. Sonam surfaced in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur on Sunday night where she surrendered after her accomplices and suspected contract killers, Akash Rajput (19), Vishal Singh Chauhan (22), and Anand Kurmi, were arrested for their alleged role in conspiring and killing Raja, a businessman.
Raj Singh Kushwaha (21), an alleged conspirator romantically linked to Sonam, was arrested later.
"We have received information that Sonam came to Indore from Meghalaya (after Raja's murder) and stayed in a rented flat in the city's Dewas Naka area between May 25 and 27," police officials said.
A police official associated with the investigations said in Shillong that Raja Raghuvanshi was told by his wife Sonam that she would let him consummate the marriage only after making an offering at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati.
Accordingly, Raja planned their trip to Guwahati and adjacent Meghalaya for the honeymoon, while his wife and her boyfriend Raj Kushwaha allegedly plotted to kill him in the jungles of the north-eastern state, considering its perceived remoteness, he said.
"Sonam coerced her husband to take her to the deep jungles of Nongriat with the belief that the hitmen she hired would have a better chance of killing him somewhere on the route, considering it is secluded. But, since there were too many tourists trekking to Nongriat on May 22 and May 23, they couldn't kill him there," the officer said.
"They finally killed him near Weisawdong Falls, and dumped his body into a deep gorge," he said.
East Khasi Hills SP Syiem, overseeing the investigation, said the contract killers arrived in Guwahati on May 21, a day after the couple reached the Northeast.
The killers procured a machete from outside their hotel in Guwahati, and then travelled by road to Shillong, he said.