Court sends three more arrested persons to six-day police custody
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, June 26: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case is trying to ascertain whether there is a business angle to it apart from the love triangle.
Meghalaya Police on Thursday brought three other accused – Lokendra Singh Tomar, Silome James, and Balbir Singh – to Shillong on transit remand and produced them in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class. It remanded them to six-day police custody.
The persons were arrested from Indore for allegedly destroying evidence related to Raja’s murder. The legal aid counsel appeared before the court on behalf of the trio.
Tomar is the owner of the Indore flat where Raja’s wife Sonam had stayed after fleeing Meghalaya. James is a property dealer while Singh is a security guard.
Based on the lead provided by James, the SIT had recovered a country-made pistol, two magazines and two rounds of .32 caliber ammunition from a stream in Indore on Wednesday. Additionally, Rs 50,000 was recovered from James’s Hyundai i10 car. The money was allegedly taken from Raj’s laptop bag.
The bag was found burnt, and James reportedly confessed that the laptop had been thrown by the roadside. It is yet to be recovered.
SP (City) and SIT head Herbert Pyniaid Kharkongor said, “We are sure about the love angle but we are also exploring different angles and the reasons behind the murder. We are trying to ascertain whether there was a business angle to the crime.”
Talking about significant developments in the murder probe, he said, “After going through the visuals (CCTV footage), we found that they (three newly-arrested) took out the bag that contained incriminating materials which matched the disclosures made by the accused persons (Sonam, Raj and three others).”
“They disclosed that the materials as well as Rs 50,000 were there. It is a very important piece of evidence for the investigation. It implies that these people had bad intentions,” he said.
The SIT is also probing a previously unexecuted murder plan that surfaced during the interrogation of two of the accused – Sonam and her alleged lover Raj. “As per Sonam and Raj, they planned to murder someone and pass it off as Sonam but it never materialised because they discarded that plan,” Kharkongor said.
Asked about the recovery of a firearm and whether the group had plans to target someone else, he clarified, “We can’t ascertain that as of now.”
On the relevance of narco-analysis in the case, the officer said the accused have already admitted to their involvement in the crime. He added that the focus now is on verifying if more individuals were involved.
Asked if Sonam knew the three newly-arrested persons, Kharkongor said, “As per the statements of the trio, they didn’t know Sonam…She was only a tenant.”
Meanwhile, with the 13-day judicial custody of Sonam, Raj and the three alleged hitmen – Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan and Anand Kurmi – nearing its end, the SIT is preparing for the next stage of the investigation.
“We will see if we need to seek their custody again. We will first interrogate the trio and record their statements. We still have the days and chances to ask for more days of police custody,” the SP stated.
Altogether eight people have been arrested so far in connection with the murder case. Sonam and Raj were sent to judicial custody for 13 days on June 21.
The murder case, which has gripped public attention for its complex web of relationships and revelations, continues to evolve, with the SIT exploring every thread that may point to a larger conspiracy.