SHILLONG, June 5: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said his government will leave no stone unturned to ensure that those behind the murder of a tourist from Indore, Raja Raghuvanshi, are brought to book.
Raghuvanshi (29) and his wife Sonam had gone missing on May 23, hours after they checked out of a homestay at Nongriat village in Sohra area. His body was found on Monday in a gorge 20 km from the village, while a search is underway for his wife.
“We will leave no stone unturned to make sure that those responsible for this incident are brought to book,” Sangma told reporters on Wednesday.
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On the Raghuvanshi family’s demand for a CBI probe, the chief minister said the government will take an appropriate decision.
“It is important to get to the facts of the situation so that the truth comes out. Therefore, we will take whatever steps are required to be taken… then we will take an appropriate decision. Right now, it is too early to say what is happening and how much we know and how much we don’t because there are so many missing links even now,” he added.
The chief minister also assured the family members of the Indore couple that the government is trying to work as fast as possible to find the deceased’s wife, who is still missing.
Terming the incident as very unfortunate, Sangma also described it as something which nobody had seen in Meghalaya before.
“It has taken all of us by surprise and shock. The local people and stakeholders in the tourism industry are very shocked and concerned. This is something we never expected would happen,” he stated.
Stating that Meghalaya has always been a tourist-friendly state, Sangma said, “We have always ensured the safety of tourists. In the last few years, lakhs of tourists have visited the state. So, this incident is something very out of the ordinary for us.”
“My deepest condolences to the family members. I know it’s a great loss for them but I want to assure them that we are working overtime to get to the facts and the depth of really what happened… as of now, we are not very clear what the sequences of events were, what happened, how it happened,” he said.
The couple, hailing from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, arrived at Mawlakhiat village on May 22 on a rented scooter.
They parked their scooter and trekked 3,000 steps down the gorge to visit the famous living rootbridges at Nongriat village, where they stayed the night and left the homestay the following morning.
On May 24, their scooter was found abandoned at a cafe along the road from Shillong to Sohra. (PTI)
