Love, friendship and joint planning led to Indore man's murder during Meghalaya honeymoon

Guwahati: Indore-based businessman Raja Raghuvanshi was murdered during his honeymoon in Meghalaya by three friends of Raj Kushwaha, the 'boyfriend' of his newly married wife Sonam, who was also the "mastermind" of the plot, police in Meghalaya said on Thursday night after first round of interrogation of all five accused.

"At this juncture, it is very clear there is a love angle. Raj is the mastermind, Sonam is a partner. These are his friends (the three earlier suspected to be contract killers).... Raj came up with a plan to eliminate Raja 11 days before the marriage," East Khasi Hills district SP, Vivek Syiem told reporters in Shillong.

Police said 24-year-old Sonam had an affair with Raj, 19, also from Indore, and she was upset as she had to marry Raja, which was arranged by her parents. Raj came up with the plan and his friends--Vishal Singh Chouhan, Akash Rajput and Anand Kurmi, agreed to execute it. The three, aged between 19 and 21, had come to Guwahati in Assam on May 19, three days before Raja and Sonam reached the city, police said.

Fourth attempt:

The SP said investigation and interrogation of the accused so far have revealed that they tried to kill Raja thrice before succeeding in their fourth attempt near Sohra, a popular tourist spot, about 150 km from Guwahati.

They first tried to kill Raja on May 22 when the couple visited the ancient Kamakhya temple in Guwahati and later at Nongriat in Meghalaya, where they spent the night. They also wanted to kill him at Mawlikhiat when he went to take a leak, but abandoned the plan as they did not find a place to dispose the body.

"Finally they succeeded at Weisawdong near Sohrarim. The three hit Raja with a sharp weapon they bought in Guwahati and pushed the body into the gorge," Syiem said.

Raj, as per the police, was in Indore, but was in touch with Sonam and his friends.

Earlier in the day, Davis Marak, a DSP in Meghalaya police, said Sonam also helped the three in pushing the body into the gorge. The couple kept their luggage in a homestay and went out in a rented scooter. The place where Raja was killed remained closed for tourists due to a local dispute over the land.

Police swung into action after the families of Raja and Sonam lodged a complaint saying the couple went missing at Sohra on May 23. The semi-decomposed body of 29-year-old transport businessman, Raja, was recovered on June 2.

Escape route:

The SP said after the killing, Sonam offered her raincoat to Akash to conceal blood stains on his shirt. She rode on one of the two rented scooters and Akash got off after a while and abandoned the raincoat. She then left the scooter and hired a taxi, reached Police Bazar in the heart of Shillong town, from where she took a taxi and reached the inter-state-bus ternimus in Guwahati. She boarded a bus to Siliguri in West Bengal, switched to a bus for Patna, and from there she boarded another bus to reach Ara in Bihar. She then took a train for Lucknow.

The plan:

The Meghalaya police officer said Raj and his friends had plotted the murder 11 days before Sonam and Raja's marriage. "Earlier their plan was to kill another woman and set the body on fire and later spread the news that it was Sonam. But they failed," Syiem said.

"Raj asked Sonam to resurface in Siliguri after some more days and try to give it a colour of an abduction. But they got alert after our team caught the three accused and Sonam found no option but to surrender," the SP said. Sonam was caught in a highway-side dhaba in Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh on May 9, hours after the four were arrested from Indore and UP.

The SP said crime scene recreation would be done after more interrogation of the accused. On Wednesday, a Shillong court remanded the five to eight-day police remand for interrogation.