The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the sensational murder case involving Sonam Raghuvanshi and four others has termed the case “watertight”, with officials indicating that a chargesheet will be filed at record speed.
Sonam, her alleged boyfriend Raj Singh Kushwaha and three other suspects – Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan and Anand Kurmi – will be produced in front of a judge. They are accused of murdering Sonam’s husband Raja Raghuvanshi on May 23 at Weisawdong in the Sohra area of East Khasi Hills.
Sonam and Raja had ostensibly come to Meghalaya for their honeymoon after getting married on May 11. Raj did not travel to Meghalaya but remained in Indore where he is alleged to have coordinated aspects of the crime. The three others are thought to have been hired by Sonam and/or Raj to commit the murder.
“It is a watertight case and I am hoping to charge-sheet them very early,” East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police Vivek Syiem told reporters today. “The SIT has worked with full commitment and we’ve gathered good evidence. In the coming days, we will document this as a robust case.”
Police revealed that Sonam and co-accused Raj had remained in touch even after her marriage last month, primarily over the phone. However, efforts to recover their mobile data have been hindered, as Sonam and the other accused disposed of their phones and SIM cards after committing the crime.
Authorities are expected to conduct a crime scene reconstruction following the initial round of interrogation. “There are multiple levels of examination. Once the accused are questioned, we will decide when to take them for scene reconstruction,” Syiem said.
Sonam’s escape trail has also come under scrutiny. She allegedly took a taxi from Mawkdok near Sohra to Shillong and then a tourist cab to Guwahati, from where she boarded a train. The other three accused also travelled to Guwahati via tourist taxi and boarded a train to Indore.
Syiem made it clear that at no point did any evidence suggest a Bangladesh angle, as had been spuriously argued by several national media channels and social media pages. On the amount of money paid to the hired killers, the SP said that, though various figures have been bandied about in the press, he could not confirm the number, saying that a clear picture will emerge once all the accused are interrogated.
Although Sonam and Raja had been missing since May 23-24, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed only after the man’s body was recovered on June 2. A week later all five suspects were in the police net. Syiem said that a 15-20 member team worked in parallel on different leads. “There was a lot of data to be pieced together. CCTV footage played a crucial role. We urge homestays to install surveillance cameras to help in such investigations,” he said.
Although she may not have delivered the fatal blow (Raja was killed with two strikes of a dao to his head), Sonam is believed to have been present at the scene when the crime was committed. Syiem said that, according to the hired killers, Sonam led them to Weisawdong.
It is also clear that a lot of research or blind luck had been relied upon by the murderers in picking the location for the crime. Weisawdong is a scenic tourist spot but has become less visited as there is a dispute between two villages over ownership of the area.
Syiem also said that instead of the usual Tyrna to Nongriat route, the five suspects and unsuspecting Raja took the Mawlakhiat road, “which is longer and more secluded”. This route may have been selected after an online search for isolated places, “giving them the opportunity to carry out the crime unnoticed.”
While it remains unclear whether Sonam had prior knowledge of the location, police believe the plan to kill Raja was already in place, though the exact spot may have been decided later.
