Special Investigation Team to probe Raja Raghuvanshi’s death
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, June 2: In a sensational development, East Khasi Hills police have decided to register a homicide case following the recovery of the body of missing Indore tourist Raja Raghuvanshi.
The district police has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate Raja’s death.
However, there is still no trace of his wife, Sonam. The newlywed couple went missing on May 23 after they had left for Sohra area on a two-wheeler they hired in Shillong.
The formation of the SIT was announced by East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police Vivek Syiem, shortly after Govind Raghuvanshi, brother of the deceased, identified the decomposed body through a distinctive tattoo on the right hand bearing the name “Raja.”
Items recovered at the scene included a woman’s white shirt, a strip of Pentra 40 tablets, part of an LCD screen from a Vivo mobile phone, and a smartwatch worn by the deceased.
The body was spotted at 11.48 AM by a police drone in a deep gorge below the Wei Sawdong falls at Riat Arliang parking lot.
“A case of murder is being registered. The police are actively investigating, and no possibilities, including foul play, are being ruled out at this stage,” Syiem stated.
The body was found after an extensive search involving the police, State Disaster Response Force, Special Operations Team and members of the West Jaintia Hills District Adventure Mountaineering Club.
Due to steep and inaccessible terrain, the body was taken to the parking lot for a magisterial inquest which was conducted by Executive Magistrate Adiel R Kyntan from Sohra. Independent local witnesses were present during the inquest. Later, the body was brought to NEIGRIHMS, Shillong, for post-mortem.
Syiem said the whereabouts of Sonam remains unknown. He acknowledged the dedicated efforts of the search teams which worked tirelessly under challenging weather conditions.
Further updates will be provided as the investigation progresses, the SP added.
