"Did You Eat Anything?" Last Phone Call Between Raja Raghuvanshi, His Mother

What have you gone to see up there?
Did you eat anything?
Are you making a video or not?
You are there for how many more days?

These are some of the pressing questions that Raja Raghuvanshi's mother put to him in a call on May 23, in what turned out to be her last call to her son.

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.

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.

Raja's relatives identified the body through a distinctive tattoo on his right hand. A woman's white shirt, a strip of medicine, a part of the LCD screen of a mobile phone, and a smartwatch were also seized at the spot, the police had said.

Police also recovered a bloodstained machete, which they believe was used in Raja's murder. A raincoat also believed to belong to the couple, was recovered from Mawkma village, a few kilometres away from the gorge where Raja's body was found.

Wife Sonam is now the prime suspect in the murder of her husband, say the police.

Five people - three alleged hired killers, wife Sonam and her alleged lover - have been arrested in connection with the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi.

Here's how the conversation between Raja Raghuvanshi and his mother, Uma Raghuvanshi, played out before he went missing:

Maa: Hello... did you come down?
Raja: Yes.
Maa: Did you come down? Where are you, up or down?
Raja: I have reached up now.
Maa: Did you stay down at night?
Raja: Yes

At this stage, the mother seeks to know why he has gone up there when the waterfall is visible from down below and if he has eaten anything. The son suggests that the place is nice. She enquires if he is making a video or not.

Maa: Did you get anything to eat or drink?
Raja: I ate a banana.
Maa: What?
Raja: I am eating a banana right now. I will leave from here now.
Maa: Yes, because today I will be fasting. I was making phalhaar (a meal or diet consisting solely of fruits). I have not eaten it yet. I have just made it. What have you gone to see up there? The waterfall is visible from below also... You went there to see the waterfall... You are climbing up and coming down and looking at it.
Raja: No. It is a good place.
Maa: Are you making a video or not? Are you uploading the videos.
Raja: The internet is not working.
Maa: Just roaming there. You are there for how many more days?
Raja: Yes. I am coming.

Uma Raghuvanshi never heard from her son again.

Sonam Raghuvanshi allegedly planned the murder with her alleged lover Raj Kushwaha just a few days after her wedding on May 11. The plan of a one-way ticket to Meghalaya for the honeymoon was her plan, said sources. She offered hired killers Rs 20 lakh for the murder of her husband, the sources added.

According to sources, Sonam also helped the accused in throwing Raja's body into the gorge. As per the preliminary autopsy report,  Raja Raghuvanshi was hit twice, once each on the back and front of his head.

The father of Raja Raghuvanshi on Tuesday demanded the death penalty for all culprits.

"My son died in agony. All the culprits should be hanged to set an example, so that no family loses its son to such crime in future," Raghuvanshi's father Ashok Raghuvanshi told news agency PTI.

Overwhelmed by the tragedy and sordid details emerging during the investigation, the Raghuvanshi senior expressed disbelief over his newly-wed son returning to the family's Indore home in a coffin.

"My son's body was mutilated. My family members didn't allow me to have the last glimpse as they were concerned over my heart ailment", he said, struggling to maintain his composure.

Sonam's father, meanwhile, has defended his daughter, claiming the Meghalaya Police were framing her to cover up their own investigative lapses.