Shillong, June 9:The three youths from Indore allegedly hired by Sonam Raghuvanshi (25), who were all in Sohra, committed the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi (29) on May 23 and left the place on the same day, police said.
The collaborator of the crime, Raj Kushwaha (20), who was camping in Madhya Pradesh, was the lover of Sonam.
The duo hatched the plan on May 18 and hired the trio.
The three accused Akash Rajput(19), Vishal Singh Chauhan (22) and Anand Kumar (23) murdered Raja, police said.
Indore police took the custody of Sonam who had surrendered before the police in Uttar Pradesh, while the police have detained one more person.
Giving reasons for the inability of the police to arrest the accused in Shillong, the East Khasi Hills SP Vivek Syiem told reporters on Monday that on May 23 police did not know it was a murder case as it was a missing report.
“When we found the body of Raja Raghuvanshi, the husband of Sonam on June 2, the investigation focused on the angle of murder”, Syiem said.
The SP said as per the autopsy report from NEIGRIHMS, there were two sharp cuts on the head of Raja-one from behind and another from front .
The wounds were caused by the machete which was recovered on June 3 from Weisawdong.
When asked what was the mode of transport used by them from Sohra and Shillong to get out of Meghalaya on May 23, the SP said this will be known later.
The relatives of Raja said Sonam did not book return tickets from Guwahati.
The accused, who were arrested from multiple places in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh by the teams of police personnel from Meghalaya, UP and MP , will be brought to Shillong for further investigation. They will also be taken to Sohra as part of collecting evidence.
Media reports from Indore, quoting the police, said said Sonam’s brother Govind has a tiles distribution company and Kushwaha had worked there.
According to the police in Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya police used the phone call details of Sonam to trace Kushwaha as they were in constant touch.
The media reports from Indore also quoted Raja’s brother Vipin saying that Sonam’s brother Govind was also in touch with Kushwaha. Govind was not available for comments.
Additional deputy police commissioner of Indore Rajesh Dandotiya told reporters there that Kushwaha was in a relationship with Sonam.
The marriage of Sonam and Raja was held on May 11.
How the arrests, surrender unfolded
Two teams of Meghalaya police had reached Madhya Pradesh on June 8 to arrest the accused with the help of police personnel from UP and MP and one more team was sent on Monday.
While the police arrested the hired assailant Akash Rajput from Lalitpur in UP on June 8 night, his accomplices Vishal Singh Chauhan and Raj Kushwaha were arrested from Indore, and Anand Kumar from Sagar in MP.
Later, around 1 am on Monday, Sonam, who was alone, landed up at a Dhaba at Gaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
According to Sahil Yadav, who owns Kashi Dhaba, after Sonam came around 1 pm, she asked for his phone to call her relatives. Media outlets quoted Yadav stating that Sonam, who was not mentally fine, wept while talking to her family members and her brother told him to contact the local police. Yadav gave her water and her location was sent to the family members. Later, police from UP arrived there and took Sonam around 2.30 am.
Uttar Pradesh police told journalists that after Sonam informed the family members, they called up police personnel in Indore for necessary action.
Police took her to a hospital for medical examination and then to a centre for women in distress.
