Raja Raghuvanshi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Raja Raghuvanshi

• On 11 May 2025, Raja Raghuvanshi and Sonam got married in Indore. They later went to Meghalaya for their Honeymoon, where the couple went missing.

• Just one week later, on May 18, Sonam and her lover Raj Kushwaha, who worked at her brother’s company and was five years younger, allegedly started planning Raja’s murder.

• On May 20, Sonam and Raja left Indore for their honeymoon in Meghalaya. According to Raja’s mother, Raja did not want to go so soon, but Sonam had already booked the tickets and pressured him to go.

• Sonam herself booked the whole trip. She did not book return tickets and wore jewellery worth ₹10 lakh before leaving.

• On May 22, they reached Mawlkhaith near Cherrapunji and trekked to Nongriat, where they stayed the night.

• On May 23, they checked out and started trekking nearly 3,000 steps to Wei Sawdong Falls. A local guide saw them walking with three unknown men who spoke Hindi.

• That afternoon, Sonam made her last phone call around 1:43 PM. After that, both her and Raja’s phones were switched off.

• The next day, their scooter was found abandoned near the Shillong–Sohra road. On June 2, Raja’s body was found deep in a gorge under the Wei Sawdong Falls by NDRF teams.

• He had two sharp head injuries. A dao (a large knife), Sonam’s white shirt, a broken phone screen, a raincoat, medicines, smartwatch, and missing jewellery were recovered nearby.

• Meghalaya police filed a murder case and formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the crime. Investigators said that Raja and Sonam had minimal interaction during their trip. It looked like something was wrong between them.

• Around this time, Sonam’s family claimed she may have been kidnapped or trafficked. Raja’s family wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a CBI probe.

• On June 9, Sonam was finally located at a roadside dhaba in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. CCTV footage and mobile tracking helped the police find her.

• Police claimed that Sonam shared her live location with hired killers, Vishal Chauhan, Akash Rajput, and Anand Kumar, who had travelled from Indore and Uttar Pradesh to Meghalaya.

• She was in constant touch with Raj Kushwaha during the trip. Sonam and Raj had planned to run away to Nepal after the murder, with help from three more friends.

• After Sonam’s arrest, her brother Govind said he was emotional after hearing from her but would wait to meet her before saying anything.

• Raja’s brother Vipin said the family was shocked. He wanted Sonam to speak clearly, as they couldn’t believe she could do something like this.

• Raja’s mother Uma revealed that Sonam avoided going out with Raja before marriage. She now feels completely betrayed and said that if Sonam is guilty, she should be hanged.

• The National Commission for Women (NCW) has demanded a full forensic investigation using sniffer dogs and drones.

• Raja’s family demanded the death penalty for those involved and a full CBI investigation. Sonam’s father claimed she was innocent.