The honeymoon murder case in Meghalaya that shocked the nation took a fresh twist on Thursday with police revealing that Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused, made the payment to the hired killers through her cousin Jitendra Raghuvanshi.
Police have arrested five people, including Sonam, her alleged lover Raj Kushwaha and the three hired hitmen—Vishal Chauhan, Akash Rajput and Anand Kurmi.
The name of Jitendra Raghuvanshi cropped up during the investigation. According to police, his UPI account was used to pay the first installment of the money that was promised to the three hitmen on May 23.
Police are trying to find out if Jitendra was aware of the reason behind the payment. He is a part of the family business that is mostly monitored by Sonam, and reportedly oversees the expenses, reported NDTV.
The new revelations have reportedly raised suspicions that Sonam made the transactions through the hawala route.
The body of Raja Raghuvanshi, Sonam’s husband and an Indore-based businessman, was found in a deep gorge in Sohra area in East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya on June 2. The couple, who had gone on a vacation to the northeast state, went missing on May 23 after checking out of a hotel they were staying in.
The Meghalaya Police, which is probing the case under the code name Operation Honeymoon, is likely to bring Sonam and the other accused to Indore to recreate the crime scene and verify the pieces of evidence they have collected.
The investigators are also trying to find out the location of the flat in Indore in which Sonam allegedly stayed for three days after the murder of her husband.