 "Meghalaya honeymoon murder: Who is Jitendra Raghuvanshi, whose account Sonam ‘used’ to pay her husband’s killers?")
The Meghalaya honeymoon murder has gripped the nation. Once believed to be “missing” herself, Sonam Raghuvanshi has emerged as the prime suspect in the killing of her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, in Meghalaya last month.
According to the police, Sonam allegedly hired men to murder her husband while they were honeymooning in the northeastern state. While five, including the 24-year-old woman, have been arrested, a new name has surfaced during the probe into the killing of Raja Raghuvanshi.
We take a look.
Who is Jitendra Raghuvanshi?
Jitendra Raghuvanshi’s name has cropped up as the Meghalaya Police investigate the honeymoon murder case.
Unconfirmed reports say Sonam used the account under the name of Jitendra Raghuvanshi to make transactions.
There are also allegations about Sonam’s family’ s business’ hawala links. Questions have arisen whether the hawala route was used to pay Raja Raghuvanshi’s killers.
However, Sonam’s brother, Govind Raghuvanshi, has rubbished the reports. As per The New Indian Express (TNIE), he also said that Jitendra is his cousin and works for his family’s business.
“We don’t have to do anything with hawala. False stories are being cooked up. The man Jitendra Raghuvanshi, whose name is cropping up, is my maternal cousin as well as a junior employee in our family business, who looks after loading and unloading in the godown. The account in his name actually has that money of ours, which is spent on taking care of the day-to-day expenditure of the business.”
Sonam allegedly transferred Rs 15,000 from Jitendra’s account to the alleged killers on May 23. Without giving details, Govind said that his sister’s UPI account was opened in their cousin’s name, reported Hindustan Times.
The report mentioned that the police are probing whether the Rs 50,000 cash given to Raja’s contract killers was through some hawala operator, present in an industrial town close to Indore.
Raj Kushwaha, 21, who is suspected to be Sonam’s partner and her co-accused, allegedly paid the three assassins before they left for Meghalaya on May 20.
The police have arrested Sonam, Raj and three others in the murder case. Akash Rajput was taken into custody in Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh. Vishal Singh Chauhan, 22, was arrested in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, while Anand Kurmi (23) was arrested in the Sagar district.
Suspicions arose about Sonam’s family’s business’s alleged hawala links after investigators found pictures of broken currency notes in Raj Kushwaha’s phone, pointing towards a possible hawala connection, sources told TNIE.
Meghalaya murder shocks nation
Days after their wedding in Indore, Sonam and Raja Raghuvanshi travelled to Meghalaya on May 20 for their honeymoon.
However, the couple went missing on May 23 in Sohra in the East Khasi Hills district. They went untraceable hours after checking out of a homestay at Nongriat village.
As the police began their probe for the “missing” pair, they recovered the husband’s body in a gorge near Weisawdong Falls on June 2, along with a murder weapon.
Sonam was still nowhere to be found. The tale kept the nation hooked, with speculations rising about the missing bride. A big twist in the case came when Sonam surrendered on June 9 from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur.
Meghalaya DGP Idashisha Nongrang said that Sonam had allegedly hired men to murder her husband.
“One person was picked up from UP, and another two accused were apprehended from Indore by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). The arrested accused have named some more persons. They revealed that the victim’s wife had hired them… Sonam surrendered at the Nandganj police station in UP, and was subsequently arrested,” the DGP said on Monday, as per PTI.
A day later, the Uttar Pradesh Police said that Sonam, who was found at a roadside eatery in the state’s Ghazipur district, claimed that she had been drugged and did not know how she reached there. By Wednesday, she is reported to have “confessed” to the crime.
As per CNN-News18 sources, Sonam allegedly confessed her involvement in her husband Raja Raghuvanshi’s killing, after being grilled by the SIT.
How police came to suspect Sonam
The Meghalaya Police have revealed how they cracked the murder case. Sonam came under the radar after they discovered her ‘ _mangalsutra_' and a ring in the suitcase the couple had left at a homestay in Sohra.
“We recovered Sonam’s ‘mangalsutra’ and a ring from the suitcase the couple abandoned at a homestay in Sohra. A married woman leaving behind the ornaments gave us a clue to pursue her as a suspect in the case,” Meghalaya DGP Nongrang told PTI.
The police claim that the accused persons in the murder case have “admitted to the crime”.
Sonam, her alleged boyfriend Raj and the three hitmen have been sent to eight-day police custody.
With inputs from agencies
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