Raja Raghuvanshi Murder: Meghalaya Court Challenges Sonam Raghuvanshi's Bail In Supreme Court; Urgent Hearing On July 2

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Meghalaya government has approached the Supreme Court, challenging the bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the main accused in the alleged murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, during their honeymoon.

The Supreme Court accepted the request for an urgent hearing and is scheduled to hear the matter on Friday.

The state has asked the top court to urgently cancel the bail, saying there is a possibility that she may flee if allowed to remain free.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed a bench headed by Justice MM Sundresh that the lower courts granted bail because of an error in the arrest papers. He argued that the mistake was only a typographical one, where police mentioned the wrong section of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Earlier, a Shillong court had granted bail to Sonam after finding that the police failed to correctly inform her of the legal grounds for her arrest. The arrest documents repeatedly mentioned Section 403(1) of the BNS instead of Section 103(1), which deals with the offence of murder. The court held that this mistake affected her legal rights.

The Meghalaya High Court later refused to interfere with that decision. It observed that the same error appeared in several important investigation records, showing that the documents had not been prepared carefully. The High Court also said such repeated mistakes could not simply be brushed aside as typing errors.

The case dates back to May 2025, when newlyweds Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi disappeared during their honeymoon in Meghalaya. They were last seen after checking out of a homestay in Nongriat. Days later, their rented scooter was found abandoned, and on June 2, Raja's body was recovered from a deep gorge near Weisawdong Falls in East Khasi Hills.

Sonam, who remained missing for several days, was later traced near a roadside eatery on the Varanasi-Ghazipur highway. Investigators later accused her and 21-year-old Raj Kushwaha of planning Raja's murder before the honeymoon. The Meghalaya Police have since filed a chargesheet running over 700 pages, claiming the killing was pre-planned.