The Meghalaya police on Thursday revealed disturbing new details in the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, exposing a cold-blooded and meticulously planned crime allegedly orchestrated by his wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi, and her lover Raj Kushwaha. Raja was killed on May 23 during the couple’s honeymoon in Meghalaya.

Following the first day of police custody interrogation, all five accused, including Sonam and Raj, have confessed to their involvement. According to Shillong Superintendent of Police Vivek Syiem, the murder was planned 11 days before Sonam’s wedding to Raja.

Refuting speculations of a contract killing, police confirmed that Raj’s three accomplices, including a cousin, were not hired for money, adding that they participated in the murder out of loyalty and long-standing friendship with Raj.

The conspiracy, police said, had been in motion since February. One version of the plan involved faking Sonam’s disappearance by making it look like she drowned in a river. Another considered murdering an unidentified woman, burning the body, and falsely presenting it as Sonam’s. When these schemes failed, Sonam proceeded with the wedding to Raja.

Police revealed that three failed murder attempts preceded the final act in Wahkdait. Earlier plans in Guwahati, Nongriat, and Mawkhlieh were aborted due to logistical complications. On the pretext of visiting the Kamakhya temple, the couple traveled to Guwahati, where Raj’s accomplices had already arrived. When their plan failed there, Sonam proposed a trip to Shillong, where the murder was ultimately carried out.

On May 23, in a parking lot near Wahkdait in Nongriat, Raja was attacked and killed by Raj’s three accomplices while he stepped away to use the restroom. The assault occurred between 2:00 and 2:18 pm, after which the group disposed of his body in a nearby gorge. Sonam was present at the scene throughout the act, police confirmed.

After the murder, Sonam gave her blood-stained raincoat to co-accused Akash, who later disposed of it. The four then fled the area on scooters, with Sonam driving one of them. She later changed into a burqa provided by another accused, Vishal, acting on Raj’s instructions, and took a taxi to Guwahati to begin her escape.

Sonam then traveled from Guwahati to Siliguri, then onward to Patna, Ara, Lucknow and eventually Indore, where she stayed from May 26 to June 8. The police said it was Raj Kushwaha’s panic after the arrest of their three accomplices that led to Sonam Raghuvanshi’s arrest.

On June 8, as police teams from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were closing in on the group, Raj instructed Sonam to leave Indore and head to Siliguri, where she was to pose as a kidnapping victim.

Police said the ultimate goal of the plan was to portray Sonam as a victim while ensuring Raja’s body remained unidentified. The plan relied on the hope that the corpse would decompose beyond recognition, allowing Sonam to resurface as a survivor of a fake abduction.

Police have sufficient evidence and intend to file a chargesheet within 90 days. Investigations also suggest Sonam may have married Raja under family pressure, though it is unclear whether her family was aware of her affair with Raj. Officials believe she may have felt trapped and saw no way out other than going along with the murder plan.

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