Hek supports CBI probe demand in tourist murder
Shillong/Indore, June 6: Despite efforts by multiple rescue teams, the search for Sonam Raghuvanshi (25), missing since May 25, has yielded no breakthrough on Friday.
The operation, which marked the 13th day of the ongoing search, was eventually called off due to poor visibility owing to heavy fog and mist in the evening and will resume on Saturday.
The search team, led by SDPO of Sohra civil subdivision, Pynhun Syiem, and DSP (Operations), focused its efforts around Wei Sawdong Falls where the body of Sonam’s husband, Raja Raghuvanshi (29), was recovered earlier this week.
The joint team comprised personnel from the NDRF, SDRF, SRT, Fire and Emergency Services (FES), Special Operations Team (SOT), Special Investigation Team (SIT), and local volunteers.
Till date, no trace of the missing Sonam has been found, but authorities recovered a raincoat near Mawkma, about 9.8 km from Wei Sawdong, on Wednesday.
While it is suspected to belong to Sonam, no official confirmation has been issued yet.
The search will continue on Saturday, with teams hoping to find more definitive leads.
Meanwhile, the family of Sonam Raghuvanshi on Friday urged the Union government to hand over the case to the CBI after expressing dissatisfaction with the probe by Meghalaya police.
“My daughter has been abducted and is still in the clutches of her captors. Meghalaya police is not investigating the matter properly. They have been negligent right from the beginning. I have been seeking deployment of the army from the day they went missing. If it was done in time, they would have been found safely,” Sonam’s father Devi Singh Raghuvanshi told PTI.
He said the Centre must hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
With desperation setting in, Raghuvanshi said he had hung an inverted photograph of Sonam on the advice of an astrologer so that she can be found safely.
After their marriage at Indore on May 11, the couple left for Meghalaya on May 20 for their honeymoon, according to the family.
They arrived at Mawlakhiat village on May 22 on a rented scooter. They parked their scooter and trekked 3,000 steps down the gorge to visit the famous living root bridges at Nongriat where they stayed the night and left the homestay the following morning.
On May 24, their scooter was found abandoned at a cafe along the road from Shillong to Sohra.
A woman’s white shirt, a strip of medicine, a part of the LCD screen of a mobile phone and a smartwatch were seized at the spot where Raja’s body was found, as per Meghalaya police.
In another development, cabinet minister AL Hek has supported the demand for a CBI probe into the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi.
“Yes, we also say that there is a need for a CBI inquiry. Even the chief minister has also sent a letter (asking) for CBI inquiry,” Hek, also a BJP legislator, told reporters on Friday.
He said the state administration and state police have done whatever they could to continue the search for Sonam Raghuvanshi.
Hek said that immediately after receiving information of BJP in Madhya Pradesh that the couple went missing on May 23, he had reviewed the search operation on May 24.
The minister said the entire community including traditional heads and villagers of the area have extended their help to search for the missing couple.
Slamming the section of the national media for misreporting the incident and thereby defaming and tarnishing the image of Meghalaya, Hek said, “This is highly unacceptable.”
“The police are still investigating to get to the bottom of this case. To say that all Meghalayans are murderers is not acceptable. Moreover, thousands of tourists are visiting Meghalaya on a daily basis and no such incident has happened. Just because of one isolated incident, you say that Meghalayans are murderers. We condemn such allegations.”
“I want to send a message to the Centre and Madhya Pradesh that people of Meghalaya are not against tourists or people from outside,” he said.
Stating that criminals are there in every state in the country, Hek said, “People with criminal mindset are everywhere. Can we say they are not there in Indore?”
“A person with criminal mind will do whatever at his own personal capacity not in the name of the community,” he said, adding, “I urge police to punish such culprits and we should not allow such crimes to repeat in our state or in other states in the country.”
(With PTI inputs)
