As the Meghalaya Police and Indore police probe into the controversial murder case of an Indore-based businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, further investigation revealed that Sonam Raghuvanshi allegedly offered Rs 20 lakh to three contract killers he hired to murder her husband. According to a Meghalaya Police officer, she initially paid Rs 15000 to the killers, which she had taken from Raja’s wallet during the crime. 

Sonam was nabbed on Tuesday by Meghalaya Police from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, where she had surrendered to authorities. She was allegedly involved in the conspiring murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi, which she planned with her alleged boyfriend, Raj Kushwaha, and three suspected contract killers from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. 

A senior police officer from Indore, who is working with the Meghalaya police further stated, “Raj Kushwaha claims he didn’t want to support Sonam and at the last moment, cancelled his plan to go to Meghalaya. He also allegedly asked the three others not to go, but they went to see Meghalaya after Sonam booked the tickets. Even at the last moment, the three refused to kill, but Sonam insisted and said she would give Rs15 lakh for that,” However, he mentioned that the police are verifying these claims.

Sonam has been taken into custody, along with four others, of which she has been named as the prime accused, and the rest identified as Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan, Raj Singh Kushwaha, and Anand Kurmi are named accused in connection with the murder case. 

A report claimed that Sonam pretended to be tired and walked behind her husband right before she instructed the four accused to kill her husband on their honeymoon in Meghalaya. Raja and Sonam got married on May 11 and left for their honeymoon to Meghalaya on May 20. Search for them began after their rented scooter was found abandoned along the road from Shillong to Sohra on May 24.

As the investigation into the sensational murder case continues to unfold, Raj Singh Kushwaha, Sonam's alleged boyfriend, has been sent to a seven-day transit remand. Authorities alleged that he was the mastermind, conspiring the crime from afar. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Akash Rajput, the third accused, who was apprehended in Lalitpur, was also sent to a seven-day transit remand. Vishal Singh Chauhan, the fourth accused, was arrested in Indore. Anand Kurmi, the fifth accused, was also arrested and sent to seven-day transit custody, according to the report.