Raja Raghuvanshi murder: Police learnt to have found pistol and Sonam's laptop from Palasia nullah

Bhopal: A team of the Shillong police, currently in Indore to probe the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case, is learnt to have found a pistol and the laptop of Sonam, Raja's wife and main accused, from a drain in Indore on Wednesday.

Sources said the police received information about the two items from property broker Shilom James of Indore during his interrogation in connection with the case.

James told police that he had disposed of the items in a nullah. The police today took Shilom James to the nullah for searching.

Sources said the police recovered a pistol inside a white plastic bag from the part of the nullah behind the Industries House.

It is believed that this was the pistol bought by the murder accused men to shoot Raja, as per their initial plan.

Sources added that the police also recovered Sonam Raghuvanshi’s laptop from the part of the nullah in the Old Palasia area of Indore.

Police believe that the laptop could contain crucial evidence, including details of alleged hawala transactions.

The police also seized about Rs one lakh cash from a car parked outside James' house in Indore.

The Meghalaya Police team had detained Shilom James on Sunday on charges of allegedly concealing vital information and evidence that could be crucial in the case.

James had rented out a flat in a building at Dewas Naka area of Indore to Vishal Chauhan, one of the arrested murder accused.

Sonam is believed to have stayed in this flat secretly for almost 10 days, soon after Raja's murder in Shillong on 23 May.

Raja Raghuvanshi (29), a transport businessman of Indore, got married to Sonam Raghuvanshi (25), also of Indore, on May 11. They reached Shillong in Meghalaya on May 20, for their honeymoon.

However, both went missing there on May 23. Raja’s body was found in a deep gorge near a waterfall in the Sohra (Cherrapunji) area on June 2.

The Meghalaya police registered a case of murder and launched investigations.

Meanwhile, Sonam remained missing for the next seven days, despite extensive search operations.

In the wee hours of June 9, Sonam was located at a dhaba at Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh. She was initially detained and subsequently arrested, on suspicion of being the main mastermind behind her husband’s murder.

Following that, four more accused were arrested, including three suspected hired killers from Indore and Bina in Madhya Pradesh, and another suspect from Uttar Pradesh.

The Meghalaya police took all the four men, Raj Kushwaha, Vishal Chauhan, Anand Kurmi, and Akash Rajput, on transit remand from a court at Indore to Shillong on June 10.