Honeymoon murder: Meghalaya Police to produce Sonam, other accused before court on Wednesday
Meghalaya Police, which codenamed the investigation as 'Operation Honeymoon', had collected evidence from the residences and other places frequented by the accused in Indore and Ghazipur on Tuesday, they said.
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Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Meghalaya honeymoon case: What happened on the fateful day of Raja Raghuvanshi's murder
Sonam Raghuvanshi, a 24-year-old woman, was arrested for her suspected role in the murder of her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, during their honeymoon in Meghalaya – just days after their wedding. The case took several dramatic turns after she surrendered in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur, days after Raja's body was recovered on June 2. This came after reports of a 'missing couple' surfaced from May 23, with concerned families accusing Meghalaya Police of failing to trace them. Sonam later showed up at a dhaba in Ghazipur, prompting Meghalaya Police to act swiftly and take her into custody. It was then that the chilling details of the case emerged – she had allegedly hired a group of men to kill her husband. The investigation saw coordinated efforts from police in three states – Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh – to unravel the mystery behind the so-called 'honeymoon murder'. A senior officer told Hindustan Times on Wednesday that a Special Investigation Team plans to take Raja Raghuvanshi's alleged killers to Sohra and nearby areas in Meghalaya to reconstruct the crime. This comes after a Shillong court remanded his wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi, and the four other accused to eight days of police custody. Based on the initial questioning of the three accused arrested in Indore, police have reconstructed the sequence of events on the day Raja Raghuvanshi was murdered and what followed after. 5.30 am: Sonam and Raja Raghuvanshi checked out of Shipara Guest House, and left for a trek to Cherrapunji. 6 am: She messaged Vishal Chauhan, who was staying in another homestay, and the killers left for the same trek. 9.30 am – 10 am: The killers — Chauhan, Anand Kurmi, Akash Rajput — joined the couple, and befriended Raja. 10 am: A local guide, Albert Pde, spotted the five of them. 12.30 pm: Sonam spoke to her mother-in-law, Uma Raghuvanshi, and said Raja's phone was discharged. Raja also talked to his mother. 1 pm: They reached the parking lot of Wei Sawdong Waterfalls. 1.30 pm: Sonam claimed she was tired and slowed down during the uphill trek, while Raja continued ahead with Vishal and Akash. Kurmi kept a watch from behind. Vishal struck Raja on the back of his head and as Raja turned, Vishal struck his forehead with a sharp weapon. 2.15 pm: Sonam shared a message on social media. 2.30 pm: Raja's body was thrown into the gorge at Riat Arliang. Sonam left alone on a scooter and the three others on another scooter. 3.30 pm: They reconvened, Sonam transferred ₹15,000 through UPI to one of them. According to police, the money was transferred through an account under the name Jitendra Raghuvanshi. Sonam's brother, Govind, has told the police that Jitendra is their cousin. Sonam left Shillong the same day, the killers stayed back. May 25: Sonam returned to Indore on Kamakhya Express. May 30: The three other accused returned to Indore via Bihar. June 1: Raja's body was retrieved from the gorge. June 8: Sonam's boyfriend Raj Kushwaha and his cousin, Arvind, were arrested from Indore. Rajput was arrested from Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh. June 9: Sonam surrendered to Nauganj police in Gazipur; Kurmi is arrested from Bina in MP.
NDTV
13 hours ago
- NDTV
"Operation Honeymoon" Spreads Beyond Meghalaya Border, Focus On Guwahati
Guwahati: The operation -- code named Operation Honeymoon -- to unearth the missing links of the horrific "Honeymoon murder" continues with the Meghalaya police likely to raid more areas outside the state where the digital footprints of the accused are to be found. Sources in the Special Investigation Team said the idea is to find missing links in this case. Today, Meghalaya police with help of colleagues in Assam, raided a lodge in Pan Bazar locality of Guwahati, where the three alleged contract killers had stayed for a night while on their way to Shillong to kill Raja Raghuvanshi. According to Guwahati police sources, the three suspects had arrived at Ananda Lodge of Pan Bazar around 8.30 pm on May 19. The Meghalaya police searched the room they stayed in and recorded the statements of the lodge manager and staff who claimed the behaviour of the three was like any other boarders and they did not find anything suspicious. The men had supplied their Aadhar card as identity record at the lodge, police sources added. The men claimed they were students from Indore and were visiting Assam and other parts of northeast. They checked out early on next day - around 5:30 am, sources said. Meghalaya SIT feels that on May 20, the men had tailed the couple at Guwahati's Kamakhya Temple. The SIT had also found out that the men had bought the murder weapon- a new machete - from a flea market in Guwahati, like Fancy Bazar or Paltan Bazar area, not far from the lodge they stayed. Guwahati police sources added that the Meghalaya SIT is also analyzing CCTV footage of certain areas of the city where they found digital footprints of the accused. Search is on for the vendor from whom the machete was purchased.
India Today
14 hours ago
- India Today
Murder, matrimony, and melodrama: A honeymoon in Meghalaya ends in horror
A tragic murder takes place in Meghalaya while a young couple from Madhya Pradesh is on their honeymoon. The girl goes missing, and they find the mutilated body of her husband. We come to know there is a lover who could have collaborated with the wife. Scary. The sister of the poor guy is an Instagram influencer who's asking for justice for her brother with melodramatic music, while also promoting massage salons. Meghalaya Police claims to have solved the case in 17 days. No, this is not the teaser for the third season of Pataal later came to know they got married on the same day India was bombing strategic air bases in Pakistan. It goes to show how much mainland Indians underestimate the capabilities of the Pakistani armed forces. No kamikaze drones. No ballistic missiles. Only a wiry guy with a mic in hand, atop a carriage, belted out 'Aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai,' causing mass destruction to the eardrums in a 100m blast radius. The astrologer has given the auspicious date; there is no postponing. World War III could they went on with their celebrations, not sharing the same urgency as Mr. Trump, who saved the baraat from a 'major catastrophe.' 'They never give me enough credit,' Trump says, rightly so, like the foofa ji at the same wedding. What's most interesting is how quickly this took over pop culture. It even stamped over the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) news cycle. Murders are commonplace, especially post-familial discord. Just pick up any regional newspaper and turn to page 4; you'll find material worth four seasons of crime dramas. So what's different here?advertisementFor starters, it fits in well with the recent wave of men's rights advocacy. The advocates feel vindicated. It bolsters the case where they claim it's the norm rather than an outlier, where men are routinely harassed in cases of alimony abuse and divorce blackmail. It was reignited by Johnny Depp and locally taken forward by the sad end of Atul Subhash. Above all, it's a man bites dog story. Parle-G-fed dogs biting men are common, but the real journalistic story comes out when a man bites a dog. This is that there is enough online footage to go through. The sister of the deceased, who's an Instagram influencer, has shared a lot of content on her page, where OSINT individuals, who till yesterday were looking for the exact spot where we hit the Kirana Hills, are now combing through wedding videos to see signs of evil on the face of the chief accused as she was taking pheras. There are enough free man-hours in India, where people willingly lend their sleuthing skills to subsequent news cycles. The author of this column is no exception. After consuming that financial independence snake oil, he now devotes time to dissecting such stuff via long write-ups. The one who's read this and made it this far is also a willing collaborator. So we're even. Ha!advertisementThe image that haunts me is the one where the mother of the murdered guy is pleading with the media to let her go, as they hound her with their microphones, like vultures poking with their sharp beaks. I know people are doing their job, but someone at the top, the media bosses, should instruct them to take a step back. Thanks.(Abhishek Asthana is the founder of a creative agency – GingerMonkey. He tweets as @GabbbarSingh)(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Tune InMust Watch
