How Raja Raghuvanshi Was Killed In 9-Hour Operation During Honeymoon

Sonam Raghuvanshi killed her husband Raja Raghuvanshi and threw his body off a deep gorge in Meghalaya on May 23, in a meticulously-planned murder that was executed over a span of nine hours.

Sonam, who got married to Raja on May 11 and took him for their honeymoon to the northeastern state, killed him with the help of three hitmen - Akash Rajput (19), Vishal Singh Chauhan (22), and Anand Kurmi. She was having an affair with Raj Kushwaha - the prime conspirator - but married Raja under family pressure. 

Sources familiar with the sequence of events leading to the grisly murder on May 23 said the newlywed couple had checked out of a hotel - Shipara Homestay - in Nongriat at around 5.30am and set out on a trek in Cherrapunji half-an-hour later. Sonam's three accomplices, who were staying at a nearby homestay, also checked out around the same time.

Around 10am, Sonam and Raja completed around 2,000 steps along the trek route when they met Anand, Akash and Vishal.

It was also around this time that all the five people were spotted together by a local guide, whose alertness eventually helped the police to crack the missing couple-turned murder case. 

As the hitmen gradually familiarised themselves with Raja, Sonam slowed down her pace of trek while the four men continued to walk further, the sources said.

At around 12.30pm, Sonam dialled Raja's mother, Uma Raghuvanshi, and during the course of conversation, said she was exhausted by the journey on foot. Uma also spoke to her son, in what turned out to be their last conversation. 

Half-an-hour later, between 1pm and 1.30pm, the group drove from Mawlakhiat to the parking lot at Wei Sawdong Waterfalls. On getting a signal from Sonal, Vishal attacked Raja with a machete on his head.

Soon after her husband was killed, at 2.15pm Sonam used his phone to post on social media: "Saat janmon ka saath hai (together for seven lives)". At around 2.30pm, the accused threw Raja's body into the gorge, below the Wei Sawdong Parking Lot at Riat Arliang.

The case initially began as that of a "missing couple", after Raja and Sonam could not be traced in the northeastern state, but took a tragic turn and revealed a shocking betrayal. 

Twenty-four-year-old Sonam and 29-year-old Raja from Indore got married on May 11. According to the police, the wedding took place despite Sonam's relationship with Raj Kushwaha, who worked as an accountant at the furniture sheet unit owned by her family and was later identified as the prime conspirator in the murder case. Sonam used to look after the family business.

After their wedding in Indore, Raja and Sonam travelled to Meghalaya for honeymoon. They disappeared on May 23, hours after checking out of the homestay at Nongriat village, 20 km from where Raja's body was found on June 2.

Amid an intense search for "missing" Sonam, she surfaced in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur on Sunday night and later surrendered at Nandganj police station. This came hours after Akash, Vishal, and Anand were arrested from Uttar Pradesh and Indore and Sagar towns (in Madhya Pradesh). Raj was arrested later.

Police sources said Sonam offered Rs 20 lakh to the accused to carry out the crime, although an official confirmation or statement in this regard is awaited.