BHOPAL: Ongoing investigations into the Meghalaya honeymoon killing of Indore man Raja Raghuvanshi have brought to the fore the possibility that it may have been funded by money from some benami account.
“The three henchmen who executed the killing were all friends of the murder mastermind Raj Kushwaha. Not much money had been handed over to them. Raj had given them about Rs 50,000 for their expenditure out here (in Guwahati and Meghalaya). It has not yet come out whether any big consideration was there, given the fact that Raj doesn’t come from a very affluent background. We’ll see whether there is any financial or property angle,” Meghalaya East Khasi Hills district police superintendent Vivek Siyam had told journalists in Meghalaya on Thursday evening.
According to a source who was part of the joint Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya police operation which led to the arrest of four men, including Raj Kushwaha and his three friends from MP and UP on June 8-9, “The money which was paid to the three henchmen, before they left for the North East from Indore on May 17 or May 18, was possibly sourced from some Benami account, which was perhaps operated by Sonam or murder’s alleged mastermind Raj Kushwah.”
Importantly, as per sources privy to the probe, Sonam was using multiple accounts through digital payment gateways during her visit to the Northeastern state. One of those accounts was held in Raj Kushwah's name.
This possibility raises the question as to whether the money came from some suspected hawala channel. Sources in the police in the recent past had raised the possibility of Raj having possible links with players in the hawala business. The analysis of Raj’s phone after his arrest on June 8 had revealed pictures of old Rs 10 notes, which raised the possibility of his association with the hawala business, particularly as such old notes are often used as proof for collecting money through such channels.
According to sources privy to the investigations, Benami accounts held in the name of Sonam’s maternal cousin and her family firm’s employee Jitendra Raghuvanshi, were being used by Sonam and others. In one such account there have been transactions to the time of Rs 14 lakh.
At least four accounts were reportedly opened in Jitendra’s name, but used for transactions by Sonam and others.
While denying any hawala links to their business, Sonam’s brother Govind Raghuvanshi had recently told journalists in Indore, “Jitendra is not any hawala operator, he is an employee working largely in our godown and also our cousin. The accounts are in his name, but the money which comes in the accounts is ours and is used to meet daily business expenditures.”
Jitendra Raghuvanshi hails from adjoining Dewas district and has been working with his cousins for more than a year. His mother Rama Bai, who lives in a two-room house in Dewas district, had recently told some journalists that he has not come home for the last six months and lives on rent in Indore. She had also claimed that bank accounts in Jitendra’s name had been opened by Sonam and family members.
A benami account is an account or property held under the name of someone who is not the real beneficiary. It is covered under the provisions of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act.
Sonam may have stayed in hiding in Indore at flat rented in name of Raja’s killer Vishal Chauhan
After the May 23 killing of Raja Raghuvanshi, his wife Sonam (who is now in Meghalaya police custody along with four others including mastermind Raj Kushwaha) had gone into hiding in Indore from May 26 to June 7.
During the same time, Vishal Chauhan, who allegedly attacked Raja with the dao (the sharp-edged weapon) inflicting severe injuries on May 23, got a flat on rent in a newly constructed building near Indore’s Niranjanpur crossing on May 29 or 30.
“Vishal came on a two-wheeler with another man and got the formalities, including police verification from the local police station, done for getting the ground floor (G1) flat on rent on May 29 or 30 night. He handed over two months' deposit and one month running rent, before getting the keys of the flat,” property broker Shillom James told journalists on Friday.
It’s possibly the same flat where Sonam remained in hiding between May 30 and June 7.
During Thursday’s press briefing in Meghalaya, the East Khasi Hills district police superintendent had said that Sonam had returned to Indore on May 26 after Raja’s murder and went into hiding in her home city, before proceeding by road to Siliguri on June 8. But coming to know about the arrests in the case in Indore, she dramatically resurfaced in Ghazipur district of east UP and concocted her fake abduction story.
