The Meghalaya high court on Monday upheld a Shillong court order granting bail to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, dismissing the state’s appeal challenging the relief.
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A single bench of justice W Diengdoh dismissed the state’s appeal against the April 2026 order of the additional deputy commissioner (judicial), Shillong, which had granted bail to Sonam on procedural grounds.
The high court reserved its verdict on June 10 after hearing arguments from both sides for more than 10 days. A detailed judgment is awaited.
The lower court had granted bail after holding that the police had failed to properly communicate to Sonam the grounds of her arrest, thereby prejudicing her defence.
In its order, the Shillong court observed that arrest-related documents, including the checklist justifying arrest, memo of arrest, inspection memo and extracts of the case diary, repeatedly cited section 403(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with abetment of offences instead of section 103(1), which deals with punishment for murder.
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Court rejects prosecution’ argument over clerical error
The court rejected the prosecution’s argument that the discrepancy was merely a clerical or typographical error.
“Such error cannot occur in all documents,” the lower court observed, noting that none of the documents furnished to Sonam indicated that she had been arrested for the offence of murder under Section 103(1) BNS.
The state, represented by advocate general Amit Kumar, argued before the high court that no actual prejudice had been caused to the accused due to the error and that Sonam was fully aware of the serious charges against her.
The state also contended that the defect was curable and could not by itself justify bail.
During the hearings, justice Diengdoh had orally questioned why the same error had recurred across multiple documents and also noted apparent inconsistencies in the template-based arrest forms.
The case relates to the murder of Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, who had travelled to Meghalaya with his wife Sonam for their honeymoon in May 2025. The couple went missing after checking out of a homestay in Nongriat on May 23. Raja’s body was later recovered from a deep gorge near Weisawdong Falls in Sohra, while Sonam was traced days later in Uttar Pradesh.
The Meghalaya police have already filed a chargesheet exceeding 700 pages, alleging that the murder was premeditated and carried out as part of a conspiracy involving Sonam and her alleged lover, Raj Kushwaha.
