With Meghalaya police linking the May 23 honeymoon murder of Raja Raghuvanshi to his wife Sonam and four others, the million‑dollar question remains, where was Sonam for the 17 days after her husband was killed?
According to sources, investigators are pursuing information indicating that Sonam may have returned to her hometown of Indore on May 25, two days after the killing, before possibly leaving by road for Varanasi in eastern UP.
"We have received the information that Sonam came to Indore and stayed in a rented flat in Dewas Naka area between May 25 and 27," the official said, adding that Meghalaya Police will be able to give detailed information.
It is believed that upon returning to Indore, she met alleged accomplice Raj Kushwah (an accountant in her father’s furniture business), who then hid her in a rented room near Dewas Naka.
Two days later, she was allegedly sent by Raj perhaps via Taxi to Varanasi. Afterward, she disappeared until resurfacing in eastern UP’s Nandganj (Ghazipur) around 1:15 am on June 8–9.
Another theory under investigation is that Sonam boarded a bus from Varanasi ISBT bound for Gorakhpur on June 8, but deboarded after approximately 65 km at a dhaba near Nandganj when she learned of Raj Kushwah and three others being arrested in Indore that night.
Eyewitnesses say they saw her at Varanasi ISBT speaking with two young men before boarding the bus.
“If the second possibility is accurate, why was she heading to Gorakhpur?”
"In the past, people in hiding used that route to escape into Nepal. We’re verifying all these leads, including information gathered from the initial questioning of the four male suspects and Sonam," offical sources said.
Further investigation has revealed that Raj Kushwah provided Rs 50,000 and two cell phones (one keypad, one Android) to his three henchmen, Vishal, Akash, and Anand before they traveled from Delhi to Meghalaya via the Rajdhani Express.
According to a senior officer, the keypad phone updated Raj on their progress, while the Android phone received live location and photos from Sonam as they tailed the couple from Guwahati to Raja’s death between May 20–23.
Assistant Commissioner Poonam Chand Yadav, part of the joint Indore–Meghalaya investigation team, said, “Vishal has confessed to attacking Raja from behind on the head on May 23. Our searches in Vishal’s Indore home recovered key evidence, including the clothes worn during the assault.”
A nearby open ground in Kailash Nagar was also searched, recovering SIM cards and other possible evidence. Notably, Vishal, Akash, and Anand were allchildhood friends of Raj Kushwah.
Digital payment records show that Sonam was making transactions on Raj Kushwah’s account throughout their North-East trip.
Meanwhile, a newsreport on Tuesday said that the four accused in the case admitted to have killing Raja Raghvanshi. They also revealed that Raja’s wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi, was present at the scene and “watched her husband die.”
