Meghalaya honeymoon murder: What we know so far

On June 2, businessman Raja Raghuvanshi was murdered during his honeymoon, with his body found in East Khasi Hills district. Raja and his wife Sonam were on their trip in Meghalaya where he was reportedly killed by three hitmen - Anand, Akash, and Vishal.

They were sent by Sonam's boyfriend Raj Kushwaha, with his arrest taking place soon after.

As the search probed for Sonam, she was found in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, she was arrested with her boyfriend and the three hitmen on June 9. They were taken into Meghalaya Police custody as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) continued the inquiry.

Raja and Sonam were lastly spotted on May 23, on their honeymoon. With police stating that the motive was unclear, further information brought up some shocking facts, as they re-enacted the crime scene as per the course of the investigation.

The police had found out that Sonam, 24, was having an affair with Raj, 19, as her parents had arranged her marriage to Raja. The three hitmen had reached Meghalaya three days before the married couple.

After further interrogation, it was revealed that Raja had died in their fourth attempt to murder him, using a sharp object and pushing his body down the gorge. The entire plan was masterminded by Raj, while he was in Indore, and in constant contact with Sonam and the other three men.

Sonam fled immediately after, getting on a scooter, then switching to a taxi to reach Shillong's Police Bazar, and took another taxi to board a bus in Guwahati. She took a bus to Siliguri in West Bengal, then to Patna. Her last bus trip was to reach Bihar, from where she took a train to Lucknow.

Earlier, the plan was to kill another woman, set the body on fire, and claim it was Sonam, but the plan foiled, the police shared. Later, they tried to frame it as a kidnapping, but the three hitmen were arrested so Sonam was forced to come in clean.

It was revealed that Sonam had made over 100 calls to Raj, and plotted Raja's murder during their honeymoon. Father of the late businessman also claimed that Sonam was into black magic, when the victim's family was brought inn to the questioning. A few hours from June 19, Raj, the main accused's, grandmother passed away due to a heart attack, as she defended her grandson till her last breath.

With the investigation taking its course, the facts come to light with every probe.