Meghalaya Director General of Police (DGP) Idashisha Nongrang said investigation into the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi has gone smoothly with sufficient evidence to speed up the chargesheet.
“We do have a very solid case…with enough evidence,” Nongrang said.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the DGP said that all five arrested persons, including Raja’s wife, Sonam, Raj Singh Kushwaha, Akash Rajput, Vikash Singh Chauhan and Anand Kurmi are still being questioned.
She also said that with the eight days police custody given the court recently, coming to an end soon police may ask for more days to interrogate the five.
“We will be looking into asking for additional police custody but it will also depend on how much the investigating officer would be presenting to the court the grounds for more days of police custody,” she added.
The DGP also said that the interrogation is yet to reach the final stages due to various reasons.
Nongrang said that during the investigation there had been contradictory statements by the accused persons.
She also said that police will also likely interrogate more witnesses in the case, the case in point being Ujala Yadav, a co-passenger who travelled with Sonam from Varanasi to Ghazipur.
The DGP also said that police are also probing reports of alleged ‘hawala’ transactions being used for hiring individuals to kill Raja.
“It is still a developing investigation and we need to unravel all of those aspects,” she added.
Nongrang also said that the jewellery worn by Raja is not missing and has been kept by the main accused in a “particular place” and the police will recover those too.
The DGP also said that although on the surface it appears that the love affair between Sonam and Raj Kushwaha seems to be the main motive for killing Raja but personally for her that could be the only reason.
Meanwhile, police on Monday took Sonam to Meghalaya Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (MIMHANS) to conduct a mental test evaluation on her.
It may be mentioned that the five accused from Indore were remanded to eight-day police custody on June 11.
