SHE ASKED FOR HELP TO CALL HER FAMILY: ROADSIDE EATERY OWNER ON MEETING ACCUSED

Contours of the murder

- David Laitphlang, Shruti Tomar and Sudhir Kumar

SHILLONG/INDORE/VARANASI: The plan to kill Raja Raghuvanshi may have even been in the works before his May 11 wedding with Sonam Raghuvanshi, who is now accused of orchestrating the Indore businessman's murder during their honeymoon in Meghalaya along with her alleged lover Raj Kushwaha, an Indore police officer said on condition of anonymity.

Kushwaha, 21, and one of the three men he allegedly hired to kill 29-year-old Raghuvanshi, Vishal Singh Chauhan, were arrested from Indore by Meghalaya police on Sunday night. Two others who carried out the murder, Akash Rajput from Lalitpur in UP and Anand Kurmi from Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, were also arrested. Sonam, 25, who had been missing since May 23, turned up in a dhaba in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, and was arrested in the early hours of Monday.

"Kushwaha was in contact with the killers for some weeks," the police officer, who is aware of the questioning of Kushwaha and Chauhan, said. The three hired killers, the officer said, left Indore for Meghalaya on May 17 with ₹50,000 and a mobile phone provided by Kushwaha. Once there, they chose a spot to kill Raghuvanshi and dispose of his body.

On May 16, Sonam shared her honeymoon plan with Raja and booked tickets the day after, Raja's mother, Uma Raghuvanshi, said. "My son told me that Sonam was insisting on a honeymoon and we agreed," she said.

Uma said that Sonam took ₹9 lakh from her son for the honeymoon and also took her some jewellery with her. "When I asked my son when they would return, he told me that no return ticket has been booked and they would come back within a week," she told reporters on Monday.

On May 21, the couple reached Shillong. Two days later, hours after they checked out of a homestay at Nongriat village in Meghalaya, the couple vanished in the Sohra area of the East Khasi Hills district.