New Delhi [India], July 2 (ANI): The Meghalaya government has moved the Supreme Court challenging a Meghalaya High Court order upholding the bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the murder of her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi.
The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Sheel Nagu by Solicitor General of India (SGI) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Meghalaya government, seeking an urgent hearing on Friday. The Court said it would examine the request.
Mentioning the matter, Mehta submitted that Sonam’s bail had earlier been rejected on three occasions on the apprehension that she may abscond. However, the High Court subsequently upheld the trial court’s order granting her bail on the ground that the grounds of arrest had not been fully supplied to her at the time of arrest.
“Your Lordships may recall there was a lady who took her husband to Meghalaya and got him killed with along three accomplices and threw the body into a gorge. Twice the bail was rejected noting that she was likely to abscond. Now bail has been granted on the ground that the grounds of arrest were not fully supplied at the time of arrest. The only non-supply is a typographical error in mentioning a section. Kindly list the matter tomorrow,” Mehta submitted. He further submitted that once released on bail, there remained a serious apprehension that Sonam may abscond.
The Court, however, asked whether, pursuant to the High Court’s order, she was required to be released.
Responding in the affirmative, Mehta requested that, at the very least, stringent conditions be imposed on her bail to ensure that she does not abscond.
The bench said that it would examine the request for an urgent listing on Friday.
On April 28, a local court granted bail to Sonam Raghuvanshi, who is accused of conspiring to murder her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, during their honeymoon in Meghalaya.
Raja Raghuvanshi, a newlywed from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, had travelled to Meghalaya with his wife, Sonam, for their honeymoon. The couple went missing during the trip, and Raja’s body was later recovered from a gorge near Sohra (Cherrapunji) on June 2. Sonam, who had also gone missing, was subsequently traced near a roadside dhaba on the Varanasi-Ghazipur highway.
During the investigation, the Meghalaya Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) reconstructed the crime scene in Sohra in the presence of Sonam and three other accused.
The SIT has filed its chargesheet along with substantial documentary and material evidence. Besides Sonam Raghuvanshi, the chargesheet names Raj Kushwaha, Vishal Singh Chauhan, Ashish Singh Rajput and Anand Kurmi as accused. They have been booked under Sections 103(1), 238(a) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). (ANI)
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