Honeymoon murder case mystery solved; Police revealed the mastermind

Sonam, the prime accused in the murder case, was in constant contact with her lover Kushwaha over the phone. Read further on Dynamite News:

Shillong: Meghalaya Police on Thursday confirmed that “Sanjay Verma” is none other than Raj Singh Kushwaha, the mastermind of the Raja Raghuvanshi, husband of Sonam Raghuvanshi, in the cold-blooded murder case last month.

“It has been confirmed that Sanjay Verma is none other than Raj Singh Kushwaha. Raj used this fictitious name to avoid any suspicion, suspicion,”Vivek Syiem, the district police chief of East Khasi Hills, said.

Sonam, the prime accused in the murder case, was in constant contact with her lover Kushwaha over the phone prior to and after her marriage with Raja on May 11.

Call detail records (CDRs) from Sonam’s mobile number 97701-17734 showed that she was in frequent contact with Kushwaha, alias Sanjay Verma, via a registered mobile number, 78793-76225.

The mobile conversation between the two lasted for hours between March and April 2025. Sonam spoke to Kushwaha 234 times in 21 days.

Raj had allegedly plotted the murder of the Indore-based businessman with his lover Sonam, and his three friends Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan and Anand Kurmi hacked Raja to death on May 23 at the Wei Sawdong parking lot.

All five were arrested, and the crime scene was recreated on Tuesday. Police have seized the second murder weapon that was used for the murder.

The SIT of Meghalaya Police, which is currently in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, are actively working to analyse and piece together new digital evidence in their ongoing investigation.

The investigators had questioned Sonam’s family members for nearly two hours and recorded their statements.

On Tuesday, the SIT also interrogated Raja’s family members and recorded their statements. Another SIT would be headed to Uttar Pradesh.

Sonam surrendered at the Nanganj Police Station in Ghazipur district on June 8 after the SIT arrested Akash Rajput from Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh in connection with the honeymoon murder case.

About The Case

The couple from Madhya Pradesh’s Indore had an arranged marriage on May 11 and they arrived in Meghalaya’s capital Shillong on May 21 on a honeymoon.

On May 22, the newlywed couple rode all the way on their rented two wheeler to Sohra, the wettest place on earth, in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district as part of their honeymoon.

The couple had checked in at Shipara Homestay at Nongriat village, home to the famed living double decker root bridge on May 22. Raja and Sonam checked out of their homestay early in the morning.

Albert Pde, a tour guide said that he had seen the couple midway through the trek, returning from Nongriat. They were accompanied by three other male tourists, he told the police.

“Raja was walking with the three men, while Sonam was walking slowly behind them,” Pde said.

The disappearance of the couple came to light when a two-wheeler which they had hired was found abandoned on May 24 at Sohrarim village between Shillong and Sohra road.

On June 2, Meghalaya Police retrieved the decomposed body of Raja from a deep gorge below the Wei Sawdong parking lot at Riat Arliang in Sohra.

On June 4, Meghalaya Police recovered a raincoat stained with what looked like blood from a gorge at Mawkma village.

Police investigation said that Raja was killed in cold blood. The police also recovered a machete believed to be the murder weapon from the crime scene.