Meghalaya SIT interrogates Sonam’s family Members In Indore

Bhopal:The special investigation team (SIT) of the Meghalaya police probing the sensational killing of Raja Raghuvamsi by his wife Sonam during their honeymoon in Shillong last month, on Wednesday interrogated the family members of the accused in their home in Indore in Madhya Pradesh in connection with the incident.

The team interrogated the father, mother and brother of Sonam for around three hours in the afternoon and searched the widow’s bedroom and all her belongings, one of the family members said.

“The investigation team interrogated the family members and searched Sonam’s belongings”, Govind Raghuvamsi, brother of the accused, said.

Sources said the probe team had prepared 12 questions for interrogation of the family members regarding the murder of Raja Raghuvamsi.

The key questions put to the family members included how was behaviour of Sonam before and after her marriage, had they noticed any change in her behaviour after she returned from her slain husband’s house on May 15, with whom Sonam used to talk on phone for long hours, were they aware of love affairs between Sonam and Raj Kushwah (an employee in the firm owned by Sonam’s family), whether Sonam had threatened her mother of serious consequences if she would marry to Raj Raghuvamsi before their marriage, and when did they know about the couple’s plan to visit Shillong for honeymoon.

The Meghalaya police team had also asked them if other accused in the murder case (Vishal, Akash and Anand), besides Raj Kushwaha, used to visit their home, if Sonam contacted any of the family members when she was on the run, and was there any marital discord between Sonam and her late husband.

The probe team also reportedly enquired about the allegation of hawala operation involving the accused, the ‘mystery’ man Sanjay Verma and one Jitendra Raghuvamsi, a distant relation of the family, sources said.

The ‘mystery’ man surfaced from the call data records of one of the two mobile numbers used by Sonam giving a new twist to the case.

Sources said as many as 238 calls were made to Sonam’s number from a number which showed as ‘Sanjay’ in true caller ID.

There were long talks ranging from half-an-hour to around three hours between this number and Sonam’s number and the ‘mystery’ number was switched off at 11.20 pm on June eight, around a couple of hours before Sonam resurfaced at a roadside ‘dhaba’ in Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.

“The probe team was trying to uncover the mystery caller”, sources said.

The SIT also visited slain groom Raja’s house in Indore on Tuesday night and sought to know about him and his wife from the family members.

The newly wed couple left for their honeymoon to North East from Indore on May 20, barely nine days after their marriage, and went missing in Shillong on May 23.

On June two, Raja’s body was found near a waterfall in Shillong.

Sonam, her alleged boyfriend Raj Kushwah, and the three hitmen, Vishal, Akash and Anand, were arrested in connection with the killing.