What was supposed to be a joyful beginning of a lifetime together turned into a nightmare soaked in blood, betrayal, and heartless deceit.
In a shocking case that has sent shivers across the country, Sonam Raghuvanshi, a newlywed woman from Indore, is now at the center of a grisly murder plot, accused of conspiring with her lover to kill her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, during their honeymoon in Meghalaya.
According to chilling details unearthed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), Sonam not only allegedly helped orchestrate Raja’s murder but had also planned to disguise the brutal killing as a robbery, hoping to fool her family and the world.
Her goal? To quietly live as a widow for a while and then marry Raj Kushwaha, the man investigators now say masterminded this cold-blooded crime.
The web of lies began to unravel with a simple phone call. While Sonam pretended to be a grieving wife fasting for her husband’s health, an audio call to her mother-in-law painted her as a devoted bride.
But the illusion shattered when the SIT tracked down the hotel where the couple stayed — and found Sonam had been eating normally, making her tale of devotion a cruel charade.
“This lie was our first red flag,” said Vivek Syiem, Superintendent of Police, East Khasi Hills. “Our surveillance showed she was in regular contact with Kushwaha, even during the honeymoon. It became clear — this wasn’t just a murder, it was a carefully choreographed execution masked as an accident.”
The plan, according to police, was monstrous in its intent. Sonam allegedly asked her husband to carry valuable jewellery on their trip — part of the ruse to make the murder look like a robbery.
Investigators believe she lured Raja into Meghalaya deliberately, to a location where tourists had previously gone missing, including a Hungarian tourist whose body was found in a nearby gorge earlier this year.
On May 23, the young couple was last seen alive climbing the steep 3,000-step trail from Nongriat to Mawlakhiat. They were accompanied by three men, presumed to be the killers, identified later with the help of a local tour guide, Albert Pde, whose testimony was crucial.
As per the police, the assailants — tipped off by Sonam about the couple’s location — used a machete (dao) bought in Guwahati to deliver two savage blows to Raja’s head, before dumping his body into a remote gorge.
The cruelty didn’t end there. After the killing, Sonam quietly vanished — slipping away from Meghalaya, likely by train, using the very money Raja had brought for their honeymoon.
Alone and on the run, she evaded authorities for days, monitoring the news, aware of the growing search. But once her co-conspirator Kushwaha was arrested in Indore, her escape plan collapsed, and she surrendered at a police station in Uttar Pradesh.
Superintendent Syiem remarked, “She survived alone, but not without blood on her hands. The very money meant to build memories was used to escape the murder she allegedly helped plan.”
Authorities are now preparing to bring Sonam to Shillong, where she will face the full weight of interrogation alongside Kushwaha and the other accused. Police are also investigating whether any financial transaction occurred — whether Raja’s murder was bought and paid for like a mere commodity.
This case isn’t just about a murder. It’s about a betrayal so intimate and premeditated that it sends a chill down the spine. A young man, in love and full of hope, was taken to one of the most beautiful corners of the country — not to begin a life, but to meet a violent, lonely death at the hands of those he trusted most.
Raja Raghuvanshi’s tragic end reminds us of the unimaginable depths of human cruelty. Behind wedding vows and honeymoon smiles, a sinister conspiracy brewed — one that turned a sacred bond into a bloodstained betrayal.
