Sonam Raghuvanshi, the wife of the accused from the lower court in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, has received a big shock. His bail plea has been rejected. Meanwhile, ABP News has got the exclusive charge sheet of the police in which the photographs and evidence surfaced testify to Sonam’s conspiracy and pre-planned murder. According to the charge sheet, this murder was not sudden but was the result of a well-planned conspiracy hatched just a few days after the marriage.
Starting from disappearance to murder
According to the charge sheet, complainant Vipin Raghuvanshi, who is the elder brother of deceased Raja Raghuvanshi, lodged a missing report of Raja and Sonam on May 24, 2025. He told the police that Raja and Sonam had reached Shillong for honeymoon on May 21, 2025 and were staying at Balaji Guest House. On May 22, both of them rented a scooter number ML-05-AA-1472 from Keating Road, Shillong and went out to visit Sohra (Cherrapunji). On the same day, both of them told the family that they were also going for Double Decker Root Bridge trekking in Nongriyat village and would stay in a homestay there for the night.
Last call and then silence
Raja Raghuvanshi last spoke to his family on May 23 at 1:13 pm. It was said in the call that the coffee was not liked, so it was thrown away. After this, all the four mobile numbers of both of them were switched off.
First secret revealed from abandoned scooter
At 8:30 pm on May 24, Sohra police received information that a scooter was parked without an owner in Sohra Rim area. The police team reached the spot and at 9:30 pm the team recovered a blue colored Yamaha Cygnus Ray ZR scooter whose registration number was ML 05AA 1472, whose keys and helmet were lying there. Investigation revealed that this scooter is registered in the name of Sagarsen Samal, Keating Road, Shillong. Police contacted the owner of the scooty and found out that he deals in two-wheeler rental and on May 22, 2025, he had rented this scooty to Raja Raghuvanshi for four days from May 22 to 25. He also told that when he tried to contact Raja on his numbers (7000676991, 9770117734), both the phones were found switched off. After this, at around 7 pm on 25 May 2025, Govind Raghuvanshi, who is Sonam Raghuvanshi’s brother, called the police and told that both Raja Raghuvanshi and his wife Sonam Raghuvanshi had gone to visit Sohra on 22 May and they could not be contacted for two days. After this the police told them that the scooter taken by Raja was found in Sohra Rim. The family sent photographs of Raja and Sonam to the police through WhatsApp. And the police sent those pictures to all the homestays, hotels and resorts and also shared them with the village heads and Shillong control room.
No CCTV but GPS becomes important link
There was no CCTV camera where the scooter was found. Because of this it could not be known who left the scooter and when. During investigation, the police found out that Raja and Sonam were staying at Balaji Lodge on the night of 21st May. Both are clearly visible in the CCTV footage there. Now during investigation it became clear that both Raja and Sonam were missing since May 23. On 26 May 2025, Raja’s elder brother Vipin Raghuvanshi and Sonam’s elder brother Govind Raghuvanshi, both reached Sohra Rim, where the search was going on. However, from the GPS device installed in the scooter, it became clear that the scooter had gone to Sohra Rim via Wei Sawdong and Laitduh. After this, Shipara Home Stay owner Constantine Ringya was interrogated. He told that Raja and Sonam came with a local guide named ‘Bha’ on the evening of 22 May, stayed the night and checked out between 5:30 to 6 am on the morning of 23 May and also told that we now know the way, no guide is needed.
Search, rain and drone search
The search for Raja and Sonam was going on. Investigation was being done. The police team reached the parking area. The parking attendant there told that Raja and Sonam had come on Scooty on 22nd May. Paid Rs 30 for parking, and then went to Nongriat Double Decker Bridge for trekking. His scooter remained in the parking lot overnight. He could not tell when he returned the next day i.e. 23rd May. After this, tour guide Bhakupar Vansai told that he guided Raja-Sonam to Nongriyat on 22 May. But while returning he said that now he knows the way. The other guide Albert told that on May 23, he had seen both of them trekking with three unknown boys, who were talking in Hindi. On May 26, an FIR was registered regarding the missing persons of Raja and Sonam. And all the teams were deployed to search for them. According to the charge sheet, the search operation had to be stopped due to continuous rain and difficult terrain. Then on June 2, 2025, when the weather cleared a little, aerial searching of the area was started with drones. At 11:47 am, the drone camera showed a dead body in a deep ditch at Araliang Riat (close to Wei Sawdong parking area). The place was very dangerous and there was a deep ditch, hence it was very difficult to remove the dead body. At 2:31 pm…the body was tied to a stretcher and pulled up with ropes and brought to the Wei Sawdong parking area.
It became clear in the post mortem report
The body was completely decomposed and beyond recognition. The postmortem of the body was conducted on June 2, 2025 at 3:30 pm in the presence of a magistrate. The body was completely decomposed. Both Raja Raghuvanshi’s brother and Sonam Raghuvanshi’s brother were present on the occasion. Vipin Raghuvanshi, brother of the deceased, told that Raja has a tattoo with the name RAJA on his hand. After tearing the jacket, a tattoo was found which confirmed the identity of the dead body as that of Raja Raghuvanshi. After this the police sent the body to Shillong for postmortem. The post mortem report revealed that death was caused by severe head injury which fractured the skull. This injury was caused by a heavy weapon with a sharp edge, which indicates a pre-planned murder. After the postmortem was completed, the body was handed over to brother Vipin Raghuvanshi, who took it to Indore for the last rites. Raja’s body had been found but there was still no sign of Sonam. Police continued searching for Sonam. But no trace of Sonam Raghuvanshi was found. A major search operation started again from June 3. The search for Sonam was also started at the same place where Raja’s body was found. On June 3, around 1 pm, the police recovered a sharp-edged weapon, which is called Dao in the local language, 30 meters below the ditch. Apart from this, a broken Vivo mobile phone and two Jio SIM cards were also recovered which were missing from the deceased Raja.
CCTV footage changed the entire investigation
After Raja Raghuvanshi’s body was found, the police started scanning the footage of all the CCTV cameras installed on the road from Sohra to Shillong, during which the police found the first major evidence in this case. The first CCTV footage was found from Lad Mawlang. During investigation, two scooters and four people were seen in the footage of CCTV camera installed in a house located in Lad Mawlang, Sohra at 2:57:33 pm on May 23, 2025. There was a woman and a man on a red-black scooter and two men on the other black scooter. On closer inspection it was found that the woman was the same woman who was seen with Raja in Hotel Manha restaurant i.e. Sonam Raghuvanshi. She was wearing the same white top, black pants, black-white shoes and sling bag which were seen in the CCTV earlier. It became clear that after the murder of Raja, Sonam was with the same three boys and could be involved in the murder. Raja and Sonam’s scooter (ML 05AA 1472) was fitted with a GPS device. His data was traced by the police.
Place of murder: Wei Sawdong Parking Area
GPS and CCTV data made it clear that Wei Sawdong Parking Area was the place of murder. According to the charge sheet, all four, Sonam Raghuvanshi, Vishal Singh Chauhan, Akash Rajput and Anand Kurmi were present there. The three accused attacked Raja several times with Dao (a sharp-edged weapon) and then threw him into a ditch about 300 feet deep. It is also written in the charge sheet that Sonam was present on the spot, she did not stop anyone, but kept talking to her lover Raj Singh Kushwaha on the phone. After that all the accused sat on two scooters each and went towards Sohra Rim. GPS, CCTV and hotel register confirmed that all three were present at the same time and at the same place. Where the king was murdered.
Full script of absconding after murder
After the murder, Sonam herself came out driving Raja’s scooter. On the way, he changed his clothes, tried to hide his identity and gave money to the accused. After this all the accused returned to Shillong and fled through different routes.
Love affair became the reason for murder
Call detail records (CDR) and mobile data revealed that Sonam and Raj Singh Kushwaha were in a love relationship for a long time. Investigation also revealed that the entire plan of the murder was prepared even before the marriage and Sonam called Raja to North East on the pretext of honeymoon. Phone call detail (CDR) analysis revealed that the call stopped after May 20 but according to the police, they were in contact with another number and the entire planning of the murder was already done. The investigation completely proved that Raja Raghuvanshi was murdered by his wife Sonam Raghuvanshi along with her lover Raj Singh Kushwaha and three friends Vishal Singh Chauhan, Akash Singh Rajput and Anand Kurmi. The police also believed that Sonam Raghuvanshi was alive and was hiding in Madhya Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh after the murder.
Arrests and confessions
5 June 2025: Raj Singh Kushwaha arrested from Indore.
June 6: Vishal Singh Chauhan arrested from Indore.
June 7: Akash Rajput arrested from Lalitpur (UP)
June 8: Sonam Raghuvanshi, arrested from Ghazipur (UP)
When the news of the arrest of the remaining accused spread like wildfire… then Sonam Raghuvanshi started fearing that now the police would go after her too. Hearing this she got scared and was not able to understand what to do now. She reached Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, got down from the car at a dhaba and called her brother Govind Singh from the phone there. At the same time, Nandganj police station, Ghazipur police took him into custody. Later the Meghalaya Police team reached there and Sonam Raghuvanshi was formally arrested in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case. All the accused were brought to Shillong and interrogated and statements were recorded there. All the accused confessed to the crime and told that Raja’s murder was Sonam’s planning. He had called her to Meghalaya on the pretext of honeymoon so that the conspiracy could be completed. After this, the police also got the crime scene reconstruction done, that is, the entire incident was recreated at the spot with all the accused. It was told that after some time, Sonam went on the pretext of going to the bathroom and stood leaning against the nearby wall. During this, Anand and Akash were standing in front and Raja was standing close to them and talking to them. Then Vishal Singh Chauhan came from behind and picked up the Dao weapon with both his hands and hit the king hard on the back of the head. The attack was so strong that the king immediately fell down and lay there unconscious. As soon as Raja fell, Sonam started walking towards the parking lot. Then Anand Kurmi also attacked the king with his sword near his neck or shoulder. After that Akash Singh Rajput attacked the king’s head again with the same sword. The king died on the spot. After this, everyone fled from the spot after throwing the king’s body in the ditch. According to the police, the accused had purchased the weapons used in the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, which is called Dao in the local language, from Guwahati.
