Sonam Raghuvanshi surrendered in Uttar Pradesh; two others, suspected to be involved in Raja’s murder, were arrested in Madhya Pradesh

Relatives and family members mourn during funeral of businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, who was found murdered days after he went missing with his wife in Meghalaya, in Indore, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. 

The “missing” wife of Raja Raghuvanshi, the tourist from Madhya Pradesh Indore who was murdered near Meghalaya’s Sohra (Cherrapunjee), has surrendered before the police in Uttar Pradesh.

Officials in Meghalaya stated that Sonam Raghuvanshi surrendered at the Nandganj police station in the northern State’s Gazipur district.

Two others, suspected to be involved in Raja’s murder, were arrested in Madhya Pradesh. Raja’s body was recovered on June 2 from a 200-foot gorge used as a garbage dumping, and the murder weapon – a new locally used machete – was found nearby.

Several teams of local police, National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, local volunteers, drones, and sniffer dogs failed to locate Sonam, who was declared missing. A woman’s shirt and a raincoat, presumably used by her, were found near the murder spot.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma praised the police for cracking the “Raja murder case” that threatened to smear the State’s tourism industry.

“The police achieved a major breakthrough within seven days. The female [Sonam] has surrendered, and the operation is on to catch one more assailant,” he said“We hope to find out the motive behind the murder after interrogating the arrested suspects,” a police officer in Sohra said.

Pressure was mounting on the Meghalya Goverment from its Madhya Pradesh counterpart and the Centre to get to the bottom of the case after Raja and Sonam, a newlywed couple, went missing after leaving a homestay at Mawlakhiat village in the East Khasi Hills district on May 23.

A two-wheeler they had rented from the State’s capital, Shillong, about 60 km away, was found abandoned at a roadside cafe on May 24. Incessant rainfall and slippery conditions hampered the search operations until a police drone spotted Raja’s body nine days later.

Raja and Sonam’s relatives, who reached Meghalaya after the news of their disappearance, expressed unhappiness with the pace of the operation to locate them. They demanded the police search for Sonam as if she were alive and not make it seem they were trying to find her body.

The police received a clue last week when a local guide reported seeing the couple walking uphill with three others who were conversing in Hindi. “The woman trailed behind the man who was speaking with the other three. I did not understand what they were discussing, as I am not conversant in Hindi,” Albert Pde, the guide, said.

Meghalaya’s Tourism Minister, Paul Lyngdoh, said the arrests related to the case should reset some caustic views about the State being unsafe for tourists. He had earlier rejected calls to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.