Shillong (Meghalaya), April 28: In a major break for the defence, a Shillong court yesterday set Sonam Raghuvanshi free on bail in the sensational May 2025 honeymoon murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi, slamming police for a string of arrest errors that trashed her constitutional rights.
Addl. DC Judicial Dashalene R Kharbteng tore into the police paperwork, ruling the arrest was illegal because Sonam was never properly told why she was being held. The arrest form had blank checkboxes. Every single document, from the arrest memo to the case diary, listed the wrong charge: Section 403(1) for misappropriation of property, not Section 103(1) for murder. The court said this was not a one-off typo but a complete breakdown across all records, and key facts of the offence were never communicated to her.
The judge also noted there was no lawyer on record when Sonam was first produced in Ghazipur on June 9, 2025, the moment she could have raised the issue. Leaning on the Supreme Court’s Vihaan Kumar ruling that says violating Article 22(1) kills the arrest, the court allowed her fourth bail plea on a Rs. 50,000 personal bonds with conditions.
Sonam had been behind bars for over 10 months since her June 2025 arrest in Ghazipur. Her counsel argued the trial has been dead for two months and she cannot suffer endless pre-conviction detention when police flouted the law at the start. Prosecutors called the plea too late, said she signed the arrest memo, and claimed unticked boxes were minor. The court rejected that, holding the charges were never effectively communicated and her defence was prejudiced.
The case began on May 23, 2025, when the newlyweds vanished from Nongriat during their honeymoon. Raja’s body was found on June 2 in a gorge near Weisawdong Falls. Sonam was found on June 8 near a dhaba on the Varanasi-Ghazipur Road. Police allege she and alleged lover Raj Kushwaha planned the murder with three hitmen and have filed a 700+ page chargesheet. Murder charges have already been framed.
