CITIZENS COMPASS– A 30-year-old groom, Raja Raghuvanshi, was found dead in a gorge in Meghalaya, India, while on honeymoon.
The wedding was held on May 11, 2025 while the body was recovered on Monday, June 2, 2025.
The 25-year-old bride, Sonam Raghuvanshi, has been arrested after turning herself in to the police in Ghazipur.
She had gone missing while on her honeymoon.
Police say Sonam, the bride, is accused of hiring people to kill her husband during their honeymoon trip. There are also suspicions that she may have been in a romantic relationship with someone else. The couple had only been in Meghalaya for four days when they both disappeared.
Raja’s dead body was later discovered in a deep valley near a waterfall. His throat had been slit, and some of his belongings—including his wallet, a gold ring, and a chain—were missing. After this shocking discovery, Sonam’s family reached out to government officials, including the Prime Minister, asking for help and claiming the police were not doing enough to find out what happened to the bride and her husband.
A restaurant owner named Sahil Yadav said the bride Sonam showed up at his place around 1 a.m. She walked in, asked to use a phone to call her brother, and then started crying. Not long after, the police came and took her in.
According to authorities, three other suspects from Madhya Pradesh were also arrested during nighttime raids. One was caught in Uttar Pradesh, while the other two were picked up in Indore. A police official confirmed, “One person was picked up from Uttar Pradesh and another two accused were apprehended from Indore. Sonam surrendered at the Nandganj police station and was subsequently arrested.”
The chief minister of Meghalaya praised the police for making progress quickly. He posted online, “Within 7 days a major breakthrough has been achieved by the #meghalayapolice in the Raja murder case…3 assailants who are from Madhya Pradesh have been arrested,
The chief minister of Meghalaya praised the police for making progress quickly. He posted online, “Within 7 days a major breakthrough has been achieved by the #meghalayapolice in the Raja murder case…3 assailants who are from Madhya Pradesh have been arrested, female has surrendered and operation still on to catch 1 more assailant .. well done #meghalayapolice.”
Another official said the police had been wrongly blamed during the early investigation. “The truth has come out,” he stated at a press conference.
Although police believe the suspects were hired to kill the husband Raja at the bride’s request, they have not publicly explained her exact motive. Raja’s brother, Vipin Raghuvanshi, said one of the accused worked with Sonam. He said, “Only Sonam can clarify. If she’s guilty, she should be punished.”
Sonam’s father, Devi Singh, insists that his bride daughter is innocent. He claimed that she was kidnapped and somehow managed to escape. He believes the police are falsely accusing her. “My appeal to the government is to get a CBI inquiry done. Meghalaya Police is lying,” he said. “They did not do any inquiry. I am 100% sure that Meghalaya Police is involved in the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi.”
He added that Sonam and Raja had never met before their arranged marriage, and he has not been able to talk to his bride daughter since the honeymoon incident. “Only my son, Govind, spoke to Sonam. Meghalaya Police is trying to trap Sonam in this case. If CBI inquiry is done, officials of the Police Station in Meghalaya will be behind bars.”
A senior officer shared more details about the suspects: “The first person arrested is a 19-year-old Akash Rajput, from Lalitpur. The second accused is Vishal Singh Chauhan, age 22 years, from Indore, and the third is Raj Singh Kushwaha, age 21 years, from Indore.”
Another officer commented on the bride Sonam’s sudden appearance after the arrests, saying, “It is a fact that she called up her relatives, but all this happened after the raids were conducted. If you look at it logically, all these days she hadn’t come out, but last night, when Raj Kushwaha and others were caught, suddenly she surfaced. That speaks for itself.”
The case involving the dead husband, his bride, and the shocking honeymoon tragedy is still being investigated, and police are searching for one more suspect.
—People.com
