GUWAHATI: A Shillong court on Thursday extended the police custody of Sonam Raghuvanshi and her alleged boyfriend, Raj Kushwaha, by two more days on a request of the police team investigating the murder of Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi last month, the public prosecutor said. Ghazipur: Sonam Raghuvanshi was arrested in connection with the murder of her husband during their honeymoon in Meghalaya. (PTI FILE)

The three men who killed the businessman – Vishal Chauhan, Anand Kurmi and Akash Thakur – have been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days, public prosecutor T Chanda told reporters outside the court complex in Shillong.

Chanda said the five were produced before the sessions court on Thursday evening on expiry of their eight-day police remand. They were taken to a local government hospital for a medical checkup before being produced before the judge.

The five were arrested in connection with the murder of 29-year-old Raja Raghuvanshi whose body was found in a gorge near Weisawdong Falls on June 2, days after he and his wife 24-year-old wife Sonam went missing on May 23 during their honeymoon in Sohra. A search continued for Sonam, who turned up in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur, in the early hours of June 9 and surrendered. Sonam’s alleged boyfriend Raj Kushwaha and the three contract killers were also arrested in the case.

East Khasi Hills district superintendent of police (SP) Vivek Syiem later told reporters that police sought two more days as they needed to interrogate Sonam and Raj about specific details regarding the murder. “Our team is still in Indore. We need to develop more things, and as and when we get more inputs from them (the police team) then we can question these people (Raj and Sonam) and will do an analysis. If required, we will take them into police custody for more time,” he said.

He added that Sonam was carrying three phones at the time of the murder and had destroyed two of them. “We are looking for the third phone and the jewellery (which Raja was wearing) that Sonam took. These items were not found in the flat in Indore where Sonam was staying following the murder. We are checking CCTV footage to see whether those items were passed on to anybody. All things from the flat had been taken away and it was found empty,” said Syiem.

The Meghalaya Special Investigation Team (SIT) brought the accused, including Sonam Raghuvanshi for the recreation of the crime at Wei Sawdong Falls, Cherrapunji, in East Khasi Hills on Tuesday (ANI)

On Tuesday, investigators took the five suspects to the location 50km from Shillong where Raja Raghuvanshi was killed to recreate the crime. During the exercise, it was revealed that Vishal, Anand and Anand had attacked Raja with two machetes, and not one as believed earlier.

The machete, which has a steel handle, was recovered from the gorge near the spot where Raja’s body was found on June 2, police said.

On Wednesday, Syiem said that the victim sustained three blows –– the first by Chauhan, then Kurmi and the last by Thakur.

According to the state police, Sonam has allegedly admitted her complicity in the murder. “The whole thing (conspiracy) had happened in Indore. The plan was hatched in February just before her marriage to Raja and the mastermind of this was Raj and Sonam played along with the plan and was a part and partner,” Syiem told reporters on June 13.

According to the police, Raja and Sonam visited Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati on May 20 while the three killers had reached the city on May 19. When their plan to kill Raja in Guwahati could not materialise, they planned to go to Shillong and then Sohra, police said.

“Then they met in Nongriat (near Sohra), returned together and proceeded towards Weisawdong Falls. In the parking lot of the Falls, the three assailants hacked Raja on May 23. Sonam was present at the scene,” said the SP.

While the police initially suspected that it was contract killing, the interrogation revealed that the killers plotted to kill Raja as a favour to Raj.