Indore, June 19: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Meghalaya Police, which arrived here on Tuesday in connection with the ongoing investigation pertaining to the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, has questioned around 20 people, including Sonam and Raj Kushwaha’s family members, to date.

Apart from the family members, Meghalaya Police also visited Sonam’s brother Govind Raghuvanshi’s plywood factory and questioned employees working there, who were known to Sonam and Raj Kushwaha, key accused in the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi.

During cross-examination of arrested accused — Sonam, her alleged boyfriend Raj Kushwaha and his three friends — the Meghalaya Police learnt that they had discussed the entire plan to execute crime at a restaurant located in Super Corridor area in Indore.

The owner of the restaurant, where Sonam and Raj Kushwaha along with others reportedly planned the murder, is also said to be ‘under suspicion’.

Speaking to media on Thursday, he said that he came to know about the sensational murder case from news reports.

“A number of customers visit my restaurant every day, so I can’t remember them. Yes, there is one corner area here (at restaurant) where people sit for hours. But we just take orders from them and serve,” restaurant owner Jai Soni said.

Asked if Meghalaya or Indore police visited his restaurant for investigation, he said: “Not yet.”

He added: “We will cooperate if they (police) would visit here. This incident has brought shame for entire Indore city. We will provide them CCTV footage.”

Meghalaya Police on Wednesday visited the Indore residence of Sonam Raghuvanshi — the prime accused in the case pertaining to the murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi and questioned her family members in connection with the probe into the case.

The Meghalaya Police team had also visited Raja Raghuvanshi’s home and met his family members, including mother on Tuesday night.

During half-an-hour’s meeting, Meghalaya police asked about Sonam’s behaviour during her three-day stay in Raja’s home.

Notably, Raja and Sonam had got married on May 11 in Indore, and she lived in Raja’s home till May 13. She had returned to her parental home on June 14, and then, the couple had left for their honeymoon trip Meghalaya on May 21.

Shillong, June 19: In a chilling twist to the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi during his honeymoon in Meghalaya, police investigations have revealed that his wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused, was in regular contact with her lover Raj Kushwaha — whom she had saved in her phone as “Sanjay Verma” — both before and after her marriage.

According to Meghalaya Police, Sonam made and received over 239 calls from the number in just 39 days.

The police confirmed that the so-called Sanjay Verma is, in fact, Raj Kushwaha, who worked as an accountant in the furniture sheet unit owned by Sonam’s family in Indore.

He is now identified as the co-conspirator and the mastermind behind the murder plan.

Police suspect that Sonam deliberately saved Raj’s number under a different name to avoid arousing suspicion. His mobile phone has remained switched off since the case unravelled.

Sonam’s brother, Govind, reacting to the revelations, stated, “I don’t know anything about Sanjay Verma. I just got to know that Sanjay’s name is also coming up.”

He further emphasised that the family has cut all ties with Sonam and stands with the victim’s family in their fight for justice.

The murder has sent shockwaves across the country. What initially appeared to be a case of a missing couple took a dark turn when the body of Raja Raghuvanshi was discovered in the forested terrain of Meghalaya, not far from Nongriat village, where the couple was last seen.

The two had checked out from a homestay on May 23, just 12 days after their wedding in Indore, only for Raja’s body to be recovered on June 2.

According to police, Sonam had a long-standing relationship with Raj even before her marriage. Despite the ongoing affair, she went ahead with the wedding and planned a honeymoon trip to the northeast.

But the trip was part of a sinister plot to eliminate Raja. Police investigations have revealed that Sonam hired three contract killers — Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan, and Anand Kurmi — to carry out the murder.

Her cousin, Jitendra Raghuvanshi, is said to have facilitated the first payment instalment to the hitmen.

After days of being untraceable, Sonam surfaced on June 8 in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district and surrendered at the Nandganj police station.

Her surrender came hours after the three hitmen were nabbed from different locations in Uttar Pradesh, Indore, and Sagar. Raj Kushwaha was arrested shortly after.

On June 11, during police interrogation, Sonam reportedly confessed to orchestrating the murder of her husband.

The murder, laced with deception and betrayal, has gripped national attention, particularly due to the elaborate planning and the disturbing involvement of multiple individuals close to the accused.

Govind, her brother, reiterated the family’s resolve to stand by Raja’s family.

“We have no relation with Sonam anymore. What she has done is beyond forgiveness. Our full support is with Raja’s family, and we will help them in their legal battle for justice,” he had said.

New Delhi, June 17: The Delhi Police on Tuesday claimed to have cracked a sensitive cyber fraud case, involving two government officials, and made a recovery of over Rs 24 lakh, illegally transferred to a third person, by one of them.

A Kolkata-based individual named Sanjay Chakraborty and Prakash Singh, a government employee posted in the President’s Estate, have been arrested for committing UPI fraud and duping another government servant of Rs 24.40 lakh.

The Cyber police station of New Delhi began a probe into the case, after Surender Kumar, a 59-year-old government employee, working as Chief Household Assistant in Household Section, lodged a complaint about theft of Rs 24.40 lakh from his and his wife’s PNB accounts without their knowledge. He complained that the money was withdrawn from their accounts via illegal UPI transactions, though neither he nor his wife used any UPI app, including PhonePe, GooglePay or PayTm.

The cyber cell of Delhi Police launched investigation into the financial trail and found that Rs 16.05 lakh from the account of the complainant’s wife was transferred to a Bank of Baroda account of Sanjay Chakraborty, a Kolkata resident while an additional Rs 4 lakh from complainants’ account was routed to another Bank of Baroda account, operated by the same individual.

When the police team apprehended Sanjay Chakraborty from West Bengal and grilled him over his involvement, he broke down and confessed to the crime. He admitted that he was receiving fraudulent money on behalf of his associate Prakash Singh, in exchange for a 2-3 per cent commission.

Following this, the police arrested him from Kolkata as well as 27-year-old government employee Prakash Singh, from Delhi.

The key accused, when questioned by police, also narrated his modus operandi. He said he had regular access to the victim’s mobile phone.

As the elderly colleague was unfamiliar with smartphone applications, he used to install PhonePe on the victim’s phone and fraudulently transfer money (Rs 1 lakh every time on every 3-4 days over the period of 3 months) without their knowledge. He would also delete transaction SMS messages and uninstall the app before returning the phone.

To mask his involvement, he used accounts of his friends, including Sanjay Chakraborty and others, who would retain a small commission and then send the remaining amount to his bank account.

The victim had purchased two Apple mobile phones, one motorcycle, one laptop, household things with fraudulent money and also spent it on travelling, informed the police.