In Indore Missing Couple Case, Cops Find Out How Husband Was Murdered

The Madhya Pradesh man, whose body was recovered from a deep gorge 11 days after he and his wife went missing during their trip to Meghalaya, was allegedly murdered with a machete, police officers said, as the crime sent shockwaves across the northeastern state. 

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Meghalaya Police probing the case on Tuesday said the “dao” (machete) that was allegedly used to kill the man and his mobile phone were recoveWe have recovered the victim’s phone and also the weapon that was used to carry out the crime. The weapon was a ‘dao’,” East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police (SP) Vivek Syiem said. “It is a clear case of homicide. The person was murdered, there is no doubt about that.” 

The victim, Raja Raghuvanshi, and his wife Sonam from Indore were on their honeymoon when they went missing on May 23. The couple arrived in Nongriat a day earlier and were last spotted checking out of Shipara Homestay. Their rented scooty was found abandoned at Sohrarim a day after they went missing.

On Monday, Raja’s body was found, with the help of a drone, inside a deep gorge below the Weisawdong Parking Lot at Riat Arliang. The whereabouts of Sonam remain unknown, police said. red from near the spot where the body was foundSonam Raghuvanshi is yet to be found. Tomorrow, we will resume our search in the same area and in the adjoining areas. The gorge extends quite a distance – nearly one to two kilometers – and it’s aligned with the current site of recovery. Our priority right now is to find Sonam,” the SP said. 

The victim’s family demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), even as police said they have registered a murder case. 

“We demand a CBI probe in the case. His (Raja) body was found 25 kilometers away from where the vehicle (a rented scooty) was parked. We suspected that he was kidnapped (and taken to Weisawdong falls). It is not possible for my  brother and his wife to die by suicide. The local police are not ready to listen to us when we say it is a case of kidnapping, looting and murder,” the victim’s brother Vipin Raghuvanshi said.