The Meghalaya Police would take all five accused in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case to the crime spot at Sohra-Cherrapunji areas of the East Khasi Hills district next week for reconstruction of the crime, officials said on Thursday.
East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police, Vivek Syiem, said that police officials are now interrogating the five accused to unearth the truth of the sensational killing."After three to four days of questioning, we would take all five accused to the Sohra-Cherrapunji areas to recreate the crime. This is a part of our investigation of the killing," Syiem told IANS.
He said that they would submit the charge sheets against the accused before the court as soon as possible.The SP also said that as part of the ongoing investigation, he is unable to disclose anything about the confession of the five accused, including Raja’s wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi.
Deputy Inspector General, Eastern Range, Davis N.R. Marak on Thursday said that two of the accused in the murder case --Sonam Raghuvanshi, 24, and her alleged lover Raj Singh Kushwaha -- have confessed to being part of the conspiracy.
"They have only admitted to their involvement in the conspiracy," the DIG told media persons.Marak said that the interrogation of the five accused is being conducted separately for now, and only after that, they would be questioned jointly.
“Kushwaha is blaming Sonam as the mastermind, and Sonam is pointing fingers at Raj. We would continue interrogating them until the statements align. Identifying the true mastermind is crucial to understanding the motive behind the murder,” the DIG said and added that the police would only conclude the interrogation once they are convinced that all five accused are revealing the truth.
Besides Sonam and Raj Singh Kushwaha, 21, her alleged lover and the mastermind, the other accused are Anand Singh Kurmi, 23, Akash Rajput, 19, and Vishal Singh Chauhan, 22.All the five accused in the sensational murder case were produced before the district and session court in Shillong on Wednesday, 10 days after the body of Raja Raghuvanshi, was recovered on June 2 from a deep gorge below the Wei Sawdong parking lot at Riat Arliang in Sohra in East Khasi Hills district, sending shockwaves across the country. The court sent all five accused to eight days' police custody.
The Meghalaya Police, after the recovery of the body on June 2, formed Special Investigation Teams and launched ‘Operation Honeymoon’, and several teams went to Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, and with the help of the police of the two states, successfully arrested the five accused.
Sonam had allegedly orchestrated the murder of her husband during their honeymoon in Meghalaya’s Sohra-Cherrapunji areas of the East Khasi Hills district. Days after her husband's body was discovered, she surrendered before police in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur on June 7, and was subsequently brought to Shillong late on Tuesday night. The other four accused were brought to Shillong on Wednesday.
Sonam and Raja Raghuvanshi had tied the knot on May 11, nine days before they came to Meghalaya. On May 23, the newlywed couple had gone missing in the Sohra-Cherrapunji areas, leading to the launch of a hectic search operation by the Meghalaya Police, the National Disaster Response Force, local people and other agencies. The murder came to light after locals found an abandoned two-wheeler, which the couple had hired from Shillong, at Sohrarim village between Shillong and Sohra Road.