Shillong (Meghalaya), April 29: The elite SIT that cracked Meghalaya’s honeymoon murder just handed the prime accused bail. Why? They wrote “theft” instead of “murder” on every arrest paper.
Sonam Raghuvanshi walked free yesterday after Addl. DC Judicial R. Kharbteng ruled her arrest illegal. The case is registered u/s 103(1) BNS – murder. But her arrest memo, checklist, and case diary all said 403(1) BNS – dishonest misappropriation of property.
Citing the Supreme Court’s _Vihaan Kumar_ ruling, the court said Article 22(1) was violated. Sonam was never told she was held for murder. No lawyer was present at her first production in Ghazipur on 09.06.2025. After 10 months in jail, she got bail on a Rs. 50,000 bond.
This wasn’t a clerical slip. This was the Special Investigation Team handling a national headline case. The same SIT that filed a 700+ page chargesheet on 05.09.2025 and got murder charges framed on 28.10.2025. Yet they botched the basic section across all records.
24 hours after the order, the Government has announced no inquiry, no suspension, and no show-cause to the officers who signed the arrest memo. The SIT blunder stands. The accused is out. The Government is yet to act.
