Shillong/Indore: There is more to the sensational Raja Raghuvanshi murder case than meets the eye, or so it seems.
Just short of a month after the gruesome murder, the Meghalaya Police have arrested a property dealer from Indore in Madhya Pradesh for concealing vital evidence relating to Raja’s widow Sonam Raghuvanshi.
Raja – a businessman from Indore – and Sonam were on honeymoon to Sohra in Meghalaya before they went missing on May 23. Raja’s decomposed body, with injury marks, was recovered from a deep gorge on June 2.
The Meghalaya Police then unearthed a plot by Sonam to kill her newly-wedded husband with the help of her alleged paramour Raj Kushwaha and three of his friends. All five were arrested.
The police have now arrested property dealer Shilom James from Indore. It is being alleged that not did he arrange for accommodation for Sonam on her return to Indore after the murder, he also hid a bag belonging to the woman that contains vital evidence.
Sonam was allegedly present when Kushwaha’s friends Vishal Chauhan, Akash Rajput and Anand Kurmi hacked Raja to death in Sohra and then threw his body into the gorge. She then returned to Indore. Without getting into touch with her family, she put up in a flat arranged by James.
The police say that they have come to know that the flat at Dewas Naka locality was rented by Vishal Chauhan, who is one of the accused. Sonam allegedly stayed there with Kushwaha before leaving for Uttar Pradesh. On June 8, she was picked up by the police from a dhaba in Ghazipur.
On reaching the flat in Indore, police found it empty. However, further investigation revealed that Sonam left a bag with James. He did not disclose this to the police even after the arrest of Sonam and the others. This led the police to suspect his involvement in the case.
While the police have not revealed what the bag contains, an official said that it has vital evidence related to the crime.
