In a major twist in the sensational Raja Raghuvanshi murder case, two of the three individuals accused of aiding Sonam Raghuvanshi in killing her husband have withdrawn their earlier confessions and refused to testify against themselves before the magistrate.
As per media report, Shillong City Superintendent of Police Herbert Pyniaid Kharkongor, who is heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that is probing the murder case, said two of the (five) accused, Akash Rajput and Anand Kurmi were produced before the magistrate on Thursday but they remained silent and declined to give any confessional statement.
"We sent only two of the (five) accused to the magistrate. They did not want to make any statement. We have sufficient material evidence against them. We are also waiting for the Forensic Science Laboratory report," Kharkongor said.
The Meghalaya Police earlier claimed that all the accused have confessed to the crime.
Besides Anand and Akash, Vishal Singh Chauhan assisted Sonam and her lover, Raj Kushwaha, to killr her husband Raja during their honeymoon in Meghalaya last month, according to Police.
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. This came hours after Akash, Vishal, and Anand were arrested from Uttar Pradesh and Indore and Sagar. Raj was arrested later.
On Tuesday, Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said the police are looking beyond the love affair angle with three more arrests in the case.
The three people who were arrested are Lokendra Singh Tomar, the owner of the flat where Sonam stayed between May 26 and June 8 after returning to Indore from Meghalaya, property dealer Silome James who had rented out the flat to Vishal and Balbir Ahirbar, a security guard in the area.
On Wednesday, the Shillong police found a pistol and the laptop of Sonam from a drain in Indore.
