Shillong/Indore: Were the honeymoon couple from Indore in Madhya Pradesh robbed and murdered in Meghalaya?
Suspicions have been raised as the police have registered a case of homicide after the recovery of Raja Raghuvanshi’s decomposed body from a gorge in the East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya on Monday.
Raja’s wife Sonam is still missing.
The incident holds the potential of causing a major impact on tourism to the northeastern state that was considered quite safe till now.
The couple’s families in Indore are now accusing authorities in Meghalaya of negligence. The two went missing on May 23 and it took search parties 10 days to trace Raja’s body with the help of a drone.
Relatives have claimed that they had urged authorities to use drones and helicopters to search for the couple from the start, but their pleas were turned down.
According to officials, there is little possibility of Sonam being rescued alive after so many days. While the post mortem report of Raja’s body is awaited, it is clear that he died a violent death.
“He may have slipped and fallen into the gorge. According to the last conversation that Sonam had with her mother-in-law (Raja’s mother), the two were moving around in forested area. Sonam was also breathing heavily during that conversation. This implies that were in hilly terrain. However, had Raja met with an accident, she would certainly have tried to raise an alarm. This is where things start getting a bit complicated,” an official said.
A woman’s white shirt, part of a ripped-off mobile screen and a strip of medicines (commonly used to cure indigestion) were found near Raja’s body. A smartwatch was strapped to his wrist.
One of the questions being raised is why Sonam continues to remain untraced. Had the both of them met with an accident together, her body would have been found close to where Raja’s was. It is also not clear why Raja’s body was traced so far – nearly 25 km – from the place where they had parked their rented scooter.
Soon after the two went missing, locals had claimed that they were in an area where certain criminal gangs are known to be active.
