All five accused in the Raja Raghuvanshi honeymoon killing – wife Sonam Raghuvanshi, her lover Kushwaha and three alleged hitmen Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan and Anand Kurmi – have admitted to their crime, said the police on Friday.
The Meghalaya Police would take all five accused in the case to the crime spot at Sohra-Cherrapunji areas of the East Khasi Hills district next week for reconstruction of the crime, officials said.
The newly-wed couple – Sonam and Raja Raghuvanshi – from Madhya Pradesh’s Indore went missing from a village near Sohra (Cherrapunji) in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district on May 23, two days after they landed in the northeastern state on their honeymoon. They were married on May 11.
The man’s body was retrieved from a 200-foot deep gorge on June 2. Wife Sonam, said police, surrendered at a police station in Uttar Pradesh in the early hours of Monday.
“The murder was planned right before Raja Raghuvanshi and Sonam’s wedding. Raj Kushwaha is the mastermind behind this and Sonam is his partner in crime. The three killers were Raj’s friends, and one among them is his cousin,” Superintendent of Police, East Khasi Hills, Syiem Vivek, who is overseeing the investigation, told NDTV.
“Since February this year, the planning was going on about how to make Sonam disappear. Two ideas were under consideration to make her disappear: first, Sonam should be shown jumping into the river; second, someone should be murdered and the body should be burnt presented as Sonam’s. But the accused could not implement these plans. The plan to murder Raja was made 11 days before his marriage,” said the officer.
Sonam Raghuvanshi, 24, was in love with Raj Kushwaha, 21, and had warned her family of “consequences” if she was pressured to marry Raja Raghuvanshi, police sources said.
As per the preliminary autopsy report, Raja Raghuvanshi, 29, was hit twice, once each on the back and front of his head.
“This is not a contract killing, however, an investigation regarding the same is underway. Raj had paid the three hitmen Rs 50,000 each,” said the police officer.
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, investigators had said on Wednesday.
“When Sonam and Raja reached Guwahati to visit Kamakhya after marriage, the killers had already reached Guwahati on 19 May. Their initial plan was to kill Raja in Guwahati itself. But Sonam had planned to go to Shillong and Sohra. Therefore, this plan was shelved,” said the officer.
“After that, they reached Nongriat. Thereafter, all of them attacked Raja and killed him and hid his body. They left soon after,” said the officer.
After this, the officer said, Sonam wore a burqa offered by one of the hitmen and reached Guwahati in a taxi.
“Then from Guwahati she took a bus and went to Siliguri, from Siliguri she went to Patna, from Patna she took a bus to Ara, from Ara she took a train to Lucknow, from Lucknow she took a bus to Indore,” said the officer, detailing her movements after the murder.
“After the three hitmen were arrested, Sonam was told by Raj to leave Indore and tell her family that she was kidnapped,” said the officer.
The day Raja’s body was found, on June 2, Sonam was in Indore, said the officer. Sonam was in Indore from June 25 to 8, the officer said.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Meghalaya police is probing the sensational murder.
