GUWAHATI/SHILLONG: A honeymoon without a single photo. That was the first clue.
Meghalaya Police SIT began suspecting foul play when they noticed newlyweds Raja & Sonam Raghuvanshi hadn’t posted any pictures from their scenic trip to the northeast. That silence online opened the lid on what turned out to be a planned murder – a case codenamed unofficially by police as Operation Honeymoon.
Raja Raghuvanshi , 28, a transporter from Indore, was found dead on June 2 in a gorge near Weisawdong Falls in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills. He had disappeared on May 23 along with 24-year-old Sonam, who reappeared at a roadside dhaba in UP’s Ghazipur in the early hours of June 9. She was arrested, brought to Shillong Tuesday, and will be produced before a court on Wednesday.
The couple had married on May 11 and left days later for Guwahati, telling family they planned to visit the Kamakhya temple. On May 20, they reached Meghalaya. Three days later, both vanished. A rented scooter, abandoned near Shillong-Cherrapunji route, was found on May 24. It would take a nine-day search to locate Raja’s body. A “dao” (machete) and phone lay nearby, with a blood-stained raincoat found a few km away.
As SIT sifted through 42 surveillance videos and behaviour profiles, suspicions deepened. Footage placed Sonam meeting the alleged killers just 10km from the crime scene. The clincher came when a social media post appeared on Raja’s account at 2.15am – hours after his death. Police said it was a red herring, likely posted by someone else to throw investigators off track.