SOHRA (MEGHALAYA), June 10: A local tourist guide, who alerted police about the presence of three men accompanying newlyweds Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi on the day they went missing, on Tuesday claimed that he identified one of the suspects after seeing some photographs.
The couple went missing on May 23 before Raja’s highly decomposed body with fatal head injuries was found on June 2 near Weisawdong falls.
Albert Pde, the guide at Mawlakhiat told PTI, “I could identify one of the suspects from the photos provided by police.”
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“I am happy that the criminals are finally behind the bars. We stand vindicated. Those who tried to tarnish the image of Sohra and its people as violent have now been exposed,” Pde added.
Pde had said he saw the couple accompanied by the three men as they were climbing over 3,000 steps from Nongriat to Mawlakhiat around 10 am on May 23.
According to the guide, “The four men, including Raja, were walking ahead while the woman was behind. The four men conversed in Hindi,” he said, admitting that he was not very conversant in the language.
Pde had initially offered his services to walk them to Nongriat on May 22, but they politely refused and hired another guide identified as Bha Wansai, who dropped them at Shipara homestay.
Police on Monday arrested Sonam, a 24-year-old woman from Indore, for allegedly orchestrating the murder of her husband Raja during their honeymoon in the scenic town of Sohra in Meghalaya.
Raja was killed by men allegedly hired by Sonam, who went ‘missing’ and surfaced in UP’s Ghazipur where she surrendered at the Nandganj police station after the arrest of three assailants — Akash Rajput (19), Vishal Singh Chauhan (22), and Raj Singh Kushwaha (21) — in overnight raids.
The autopsy report of Raja Raghuvanshi indicated that he was hit twice with a sharp object on his head, officials at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) said.
“The autopsy report indicated there were two sharp cuts on the head of the deceased — one from behind and one from the front,” East Khasi Hills SP Vivek Syiem told PTI, quoting the report.
He said police have also seen the two cuts on his head too during the inquest.
According to the officer, police registered a murder case under Sohra PS after the initial inquest. (PTI)
