Vipin Raghuvanshi, brother of the deceased Raja Raghuvanshi, on Tuesday levelled fresh allegations against his sister-in-law and the prime accused, Sonam Raghuvanshi, in the ongoing investigation into the Meghalaya honeymoon murder case.
The brother of the deceased alleged that the accused, Sonam, staged her surrender and that more than five individuals were involved in the crime.
He also claimed that Sonam Raghuvanshi’s mother kept information from their family and that she also knew about the alleged affair between Raj Kushwaha and her daughter, Sonam.
Speaking to ANI, Vipin Raghuvanshi said, “We are sure there are more than 5 accused in the case. When Sonam surrendered, she called her brother and said someone had dropped her off here. How did she not know those two people?… We discovered that she got here by bus and that two other people were with her. She just framed the whole scene. She’s pretending to surrender. We have faith in the investigations being carried out by the police.”
He further said, “Had Raj Kushwaha been innocent, he wouldn’t be talking to Sonam for hours… Sonam was found in Raj’s hometown; she probably took shelter in his house. The time between Raja’s murder and when his body was recovered, Sonam would talk to Raj for hours… We did a background check of their family before getting Raja married to her. We had no idea Sonam would turn out to be like this.”
“I believe Sonam’s mother kept things from us. She didn’t tell us the whole story, and she would have known that Raj had an affair with Sonam. Had Sonam’s father and brother known about Raj, they would have fired him from their factory. I think there are more than 5 people in the case,” he added.
Meanwhile, the fourth accused in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case has also been sent to transit remand for 7 days.
The fourth accused, identified as Anand, was sent to transit remand for 7 days till June 16 today.
Three other accused— Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan, and Raj Singh Kushwaha received transit remand for 7 days on Monday.
Speaking to ANI, Additional DCP Rajesh Dandotiya said, “The fourth accused, Anand, was brought here by Shillong Police. He is being presented in front of the court for transit remand. Shillong Police will take all four accused with them and investigate further. Anand is a resident of Indore, and all three accused are friends of Raj Kushwaha.”
“Raj used to work as an accountant at Sonam Raghuvanshi’s office. Vishal and Anand were students in their first and second years, and Akash was unemployed. None of them has any criminal record. All four accused are between 20 and 25 years of age. All the interrogation has been done by the Shillong Police,” said the official.
The DCP said all four will be taken to Shillong following the completion of transit remand formalities later today. According to the police, Sonam Rahuvanshi, the wife of the deceased and Raj Kushwaha are the prime accused.
The Meghalaya Police brought Sonam Raghuvanshi to Phulwari Sarif police station in Bihar’s Patna after receiving her three-day transit remand.
On Monday, the Meghalaya Police got the transit remand of the three accused in Indore’s Raja Raghuvanshi murder case.
This comes after the victim, Raja Raghuvanshi, was allegedly killed during a honeymoon trip in Meghalaya by contract killers reportedly hired by his wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi.
A senior Uttar Pradesh police official said Sonam was found near a dhaba on the Varanasi-Ghazipur main road.
Afterwards, the UP police kept her at the Sakhi One Stop Centre in Ghazipur. After the arrival of the Meghalaya Police, she was taken to the District Hospital for a medical examination.
Earlier, Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong confirmed the arrest of four individuals in connection with the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi.
Addressing the media on June 9, shortly after Sonam Raghvanshi surrendered to the police, Tynsong stated that the authorities are still searching for one remaining suspect.
He informed that Sonam voluntarily turned herself in, and all those apprehended would be brought to Shillong for further investigation.
The Meghalaya Special Investigation Team (SIT) Chief Herbert Pyniaid Kharkongor said that, according to the post-mortem report, the deceased Raja Raghuvanshi sustained two head injuries.
Raja Raghuvanshi and his wife, Sonam, both residents of Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, had gone missing during their honeymoon in the northeastern state of Meghalaya. Raja Raghuvanshi’s body was later recovered in Meghalaya.
