Guwahati:
Sonam Raghuvanshi, the main accused in the high-profile murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi, has been granted bail by a Shillong court after three previous rejections. Sonam had been in jail for 10 months. Following the court order, she came out of Shillong jail after her family completed the release formalities.
The murder took place in May 2025 during a honeymoon trip to Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills, where Raja’s body was discovered in a gorge after the couple went missing from Sohra.
Sonam was later detained in Uttar Pradesh and allegedly confessed to conspiring with her lover, Raj Kushwaha, and three others to commit the murder. Kushwaha and the other three remain in custody. Only Sonam had filed a bail petition.
The legal aid cell of East Khasi Hills district and session judge court filed the bail petition on the ground that the investigation is over and a chargesheet has been filed. Sonam said she also fully cooperated with the investigation and will continue to do so in future as well.
She has already served 10 months in jail. Her father and cousin have arrived in Shillong to give the surety bond for her release, likely this evening, sources said.
The development comes months after investigators filed a voluminous 790-page chargesheet before a local court in Sohra, naming five accused in connection with the murder of Raja.
Raja and Sonam arrived in Shillong before proceeding to Sohra. The couple was reported missing on May 26, which resulted in a large-scale search operation across the region. Days later, on June 2, Raja’s body was recovered from a deep gorge near a waterfall, in a discovery that intensified the investigation and eventually led to multiple arrests.