Kolkata: The desperate search for 26-year-old Sonam Raghuvanshi, who vanished during her honeymoon in Meghalaya, has entered its 11th day. CCTV footage recently surfaced showing Sonam and her husband Raja checking out of a Shillong hotel on May 22, the last confirmed sighting of the couple before tragedy struck.
The couple reportedly checked into another hotel in Sohra (Cherrapunjee), 120 km away, and left their belongings there before heading towards Maulakaya village. That journey marked the beginning of a grim mystery—Raja was found hacked to death in a deep gorge near Weisawdong earlier this week, but Sonam remains missing.
Grieving Family Demands Action
Sonam’s brother, Govind, who has been tirelessly searching for his sister, believes she is still alive and may have been abducted and trafficked into neighbouring Bangladesh. “My sister is alive. She has been abducted. I request the Meghalaya CM and authorities to stop looking for a body and treat this as an abduction,” he said, demanding an urgent shift in investigation focus.
Govind pointed out that crucial items including Sonam’s bag and mobile phone are still missing. He also flagged discrepancies in police findings, asserting that Raja’s last known phone location differed from the official version. He claims Raja had posted on social media shortly before his murder, and that his device was last located near where his body was found, not at the tourist-heavy Double Decker Root Bridge as authorities claimed.
Fears of Cross-Border Trafficking
The family’s concern is deepening due to the proximity of the crime scene to the India-Bangladesh border. Raja’s brother, Vipin, echoed these fears, suggesting the possibility of a cross-border human trafficking network.
Despite continuous search operations in the dense forests and valleys of Cherrapunjee, there has been no trace of Sonam. Her family is now demanding a CBI probe, suspecting a larger criminal nexus behind the incident.
As uncertainty and anxiety mount, the Raghuvanshi family remains glued to news updates, hoping for a breakthrough that could lead to Sonam’s safe return.
