“They thought of ways where Sonam would disappear and to make her get washed by a river… or to murder somebody, put her in her scooty, burn that person’s body and claim that it is Sonam’s, but all these things did not fructify” Vivek Syiem, SP, East Khasi Hills
Several plans/attempts made to kill Raja Raghuvanshi before final execution
Shillong, June 13: Similar to the breakthrough in the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi changing common perception about local involvement, Meghalaya police on the first day of interrogation of the accused gathered that the three accused, branded as “contracted killers” so far, were actually friends of Raj Kushwaha, alleged lover of the deceased’s wife Sonam.
They took Raja’s life during his so-called honeymoon trip to Sohra on May 23 for the sake of “friendship” with Raj, making the latter the mastermind of the crime.
Further, during interrogation, it was revealed that the plan to kill Raja was made well ahead of their marriage on May 11 and that there were multiple attempts to take his life on the way to Sohra, before its final execution at Weisawdong.
“Sonam has admitted her complicity out here. This whole thing had happened right from Indore just before her marriage to Raja it was hatched and the mastermind of this is Raj. Sonam played along with this plan and she was a partner of this plan,” East Khasi Hills superintendent of police Vivek Syiem said on Thursday.
The special investigation team (SIT), which was granted eight days’ custody of the five accused Sonam, Raj and three assailants – Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan and Anand Kurmi – has been interrogating them on various aspects of one of the most sensational crimes in recent times in India.
Syiem said the three young persons were friends and one of them is a cousin of Raj adding, “It was not a kind of contract killing which they planned. Yes, the plan was to kill, but it was done as a favour to their friend Raj.”
The investigation further revealed that the accused persons had made several failed attempts till they were successful in eliminating Raja at Weisawdong on May 23.
“Actually right from the month of February in Indore, they had thought of ways where Sonam would disappear and probably after disappearing one instance was to make her get washed by a river. Another instance was murder somebody, put her in her scooty, burn that person’s body and claim that it is Sonam’s but all these things did not fructify,” Syiem said.
“So when Raja and Sonam got married and they came for darshan to Kamakhya, the other group had also come here. In fact, the group of three people had come few days before on May 19 and they had plans to eliminate Raja somewhere in Guwahati. Since it didn’t fructify there also, Sonam made a plan to come to Shillong and Sohra,” the SP said.
Stating that the couple met the killers at Nongriat from where they came out together, Syiem said all the three assailants – one by one – hacked Raja inside a parking lot at Weisawdong.
“She (Sonam) was there and the body was thrown. This happened between 2 – 2.18 pm. At about 2.18 pm, they all left that place,” he added.
Raja’s highly decomposed body was recovered from a deep gorge at Weisawdong on June 2.
Stating that it is clear case of love affair, Syiem said, “Raj is the mastermind. These are friends of his and they wanted to get rid of him in various places…they first wanted to get rid of him somewhere in Guwahati but it did not materialise, they wanted to eliminate him at Nongriat but they didn’t find a place to dispose of the body, they wanted to do it in between Mawlakhiat and Weisawdong when Raja went to attend nature’s call but that also didn’t fructify, finally they did it at Weisawdong.”
Syiem said Sonam gave her raincoat to Akash as his shirt had a blood spot.
“In fact, one of the scooties was driven by Sonam when they left Weisawdong. When they reached Evi point, Akash got down there to throw the raincoat because it has blood stains. When it was recovered, we were not sure whether it was stained by blood or other material but now we have confirmed that it is blood stain and we are sending it for forensics,” he stated.
He said thereafter, Akash took over the scooty and Sonam became the pillion rider. Anand Kurmi drove the bike which Sonam and Raja had hired and left it in Sohra Rim and from thereon just after Lad Mawphlang (police are trying to ascertain which place) she boarded a taxi and Vicky, who is Vishal Chauhan, had given her a burqa, which Raj had given to him. Sonam wore the burqa and came to Police Bazaar, took a tourist taxi down to Guwahati and in Guwahati she went to ISBT, took a bus to Siliguri and then changed a bus to Patna and then from Patna, she took a bus to Arash and then she took a train to Lucknow and from Lucknow she took a bus to Indore.
Following the reports on the tourist guide’s revelation about the Indore couple were accompanied by the three assailants, Syiem said that Raj had told Sonam better leave Indore and come out somewhere in Siliguri and resurface there as a victim of abduction.
When Sonam was supposed to leave Indore for Siliguri on June 8, the two teams of Meghalaya made their first arrest of Akash in Uttar Pradesh. Raj came to know about this, but he was not sure that they were police team.
“They were hoping nobody would find that body as it is very far away and she would have played to be victim and probably she must have thought enquiry will take one-two months and body will be decomposed and we will not know. So she plays the victim card,” the SP said.
Asked, Syiem said Sonam had claimed that she was forced to marry Raja and that was the reason that led to his murder.
Stating that the financial or property angle will also be investigated, he however said not much money was paid to the three assailants since they were friends.
“Raj had given them Rs 50,000 for the expenditures out here. It has not come out as of now whether any consideration was there considering Raj’s financial background as he coming from poor family background but we will see if there is a financial or property angle to this,” the SP stated.
Further, the SP said after getting proper facts of the matter from all the accused persons, police will gather evidence and then take them to Sohra for the reconstruction of the crime scene.
He also expressed confidence to be able to file chargesheet before 90 days.
Asked, Syiem said murder was not in police mind because Sohra is a peaceful place and no such incident has happened to any tourist before.
“We have trekkers who are lost, of course we had one incident where a trekker got lost and died – so murder was not in our mind first as that place was very tourist friendly, people are very helpful. When we found the body, we realised it is not a suicide case,” he added.
