Sonam Raghuvanshi accused of orchestrating husband’s murder in Meghalaya, family seeks CBI probe

In a case that reads like a twisted thriller, the Meghalaya Police on Monday claimed to have cracked the murder of Indore-based businessman Raja Raghuvanshi in just seven days — arresting three contract killers and tracking down his wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi, who they said was the alleged conspirator vanished after the death of her husband during their honeymoon.

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Sonam was arrested early Monday morning from a roadside dhaba on the Varanasi-Ghazipur highway, ending a 17-day interstate manhunt that spanned Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Meghalaya. The breakthrough came after she made a brief phone call to her family, who alerted police.

What investigators have since uncovered is chilling: Sonam, with the help of her lover and two associates, allegedly planned Raja’s murder well before their trip to Meghalaya — a honeymoon that doubled as a murder plot.

“This is a major breakthrough within just seven days. Three assailants from Madhya Pradesh have been arrested, a female suspect has surrendered, and one more is being tracked. The operation is still on,” said Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, applauding the swift work of state police.

Raja and Sonam, recently married, had checked into a homestay in Nongriat on May 22. The next day, both vanished. A rented scooter was found abandoned near Sohrarim. Ten days later, Raja’s body was discovered in a deep jungle gorge near the remote Weisawdong Falls — with a machete nearby, suspected to be the murder weapon.

Locals reported seeing the couple trekking with three unidentified men — later revealed to be the hired killers. That detail led police to the central Indian plains.

Those arrested include Vishal Singh alias Vikki, Raj Kushwaha — believed to be Sonam’s lover — and Akash Rajput, a 21-year-old BBA graduate, all of whom were associated with a private firm owned by Sonam’s brother in Indore. Akash, arrested from Lalitpur district in UP, allegedly helped execute the killing and confessed during questioning. All three are now in the custody of the Meghalaya Police.

According to sources, Raj and Sonam had been in a relationship for months, and the honeymoon was a smokescreen to lure Raja to his death. Sonam’s role became clear once police began retracing financial and phone records — but by then, she had disappeared.

“She had been hiding for over two weeks. She claimed she was unwell but refused to disclose where she was all this time,” said a senior police officer involved in the probe.

Sonam’s father, Devi Singh, has maintained her innocence. “My daughter is being falsely implicated. The Meghalaya Police is lying. They did not do any inquiry. I am 100 per cent sure that the Meghalaya Police is involved in the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi. We want a CBI inquiry. If CBI inquiry is done, officials of the police station in Meghalaya will be behind bars,” he said.

While Sonam will be soon transferred to Meghalaya for formal interrogation, one more accused is still absconding. Sources say the conspiracy may go deeper than initially suspected.

Meanwhile, the eatery owner on the Varanasi-Ghazipur road in Uttar Pradesh from whose phone Sonam had called her brother stated that the woman was in a depressed state and he too spoke with her family as she could barely speak.

“She was crying so hard that she could barely speak.....I asked her what had happened. She said that she and her husband had gone to Meghalaya for their honeymoon, and Raja was killed while trying to protect her from a group of men who attempted to snatch her jewellery,” the Dhaba owner said.

The fog of Cherrapunjee may have hidden the crime briefly — but the trail of mystery, betrayal, passion, and murder is now out in the open. As the investigation pushes forward, Meghalaya police sources suggested that the full picture is yet to emerge and more details will be shared only after the accused woman Sonam is interrogated.