A 25-year-old Indian bride, Sonam Raghuvanshi, has been arrested for allegedly murdering her husband, Raja, during their honeymoon in the northeastern state of Meghalaya. The police claim that Sonam hired killers to murder Raja, and four men have been arrested in connection with the case. Sonam’s father, Devi Singh, has defended his daughter, saying “she is innocent and she cannot do this.”
The couple had an arranged marriage and seemed happy, according to their families. They were married on May 11 in Indore, and their families had blessed their union. Raja’s brother, Sachin Raghuvanshi, said that the couple had chosen Meghalaya for their honeymoon because they had heard it had “very beautiful valleys.” However, their dreamy honeymoon turned into a nightmare when Raja’s decomposed body was found in a gorge with his throat slit, and Sonam went missing.
The couple’s families mounted a huge campaign, accusing the Meghalaya police of not doing enough to solve Raja’s murder or find Sonam. They demanded that the case be handed over to the federal police for a proper investigation and met influential caste leaders and federal ministers to lobby for this. Last Friday, they wrote a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliver justice for Raja and find Sonam.
However, on Monday morning, the Meghalaya police announced that Sonam had surrendered at a police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district. The police said that Sonam was the main suspect in the case, and they had arrested three other men in connection with the murder. Superintendent of Police Vivek Syiem hinted that Sonam might have had a motive for the murder, saying “if you join the dots, then it would seem like” Sonam was in an extramarital relationship with one of the arrested men.
Sonam’s father, Devi Singh, claimed that his daughter had “somehow managed to escape her captors” and insisted that she was innocent. He also accused the Meghalaya police of “making up stories” and appealed to Home Minister Amit Shah to order a federal inquiry into the case. Raja’s brother, Vipin Raghuvanshi, initially said that he would “not accept Sonam’s involvement in the murder until she confessed.” However, after the arrests, he said that one of the accused men worked in Sonam’s office and that “only Sonam can clarify” the situation.