Raja murder : People of Meghalaya deserve apology
Sonam, the wife of slain Indore businessman Raja Raghuwanshi, and the other four suspects have confessed before Meghalaya Police that they killed Raja near Weisawdong Falls, after hatching a plot in Indore, the state director general of police said.
“The accused persons have admitted to the crime, and with all the evidence, there is no room to deny”, DGP I. Nongrang said. All the five accused are presently in police custody for eight days. Investigators are trying to tie all loose ends of this plot.
In Indore, Sonam’s brother Govind went to Raja’s house and consoled his weeping mother. Speaking to reporters, Govind said that Sonam should be hanged to death if she had committed this sin. He said, all the three alleged killers were hired by Raj Kushwaha to commit the crime.
Meghalaya Police has seized the cellphones used by Raj Kushwaha and his friends Anand, Akash and Vishal. The clothes worn by the killers have been recovered by police. Only the cellphones of Raja Raghuvanshi and Sonam are missing.
The case of Raja Raghuwanshi’s murder is now, more or less, solved, but I would like to make one point. When the newly wed couple went missing, Meghalaya Police was unnecessarily defamed. This was unfortunate. At that time, it was publicized in social and print media as if Meghalaya was an unsafe place for tourists, who are robbed and killed, and the state police does nothing.
I would like to praise Meghalaya Police for proving all these accusations as baseless. The state police solved this complicated murder with speed. The state police identified all those involved, arrested them and obtained key evidence.
Even the city of Indore was not spared, because all the main characters of this plot were from this city. The plot was hatched in Indore.
The people of Indore have great pride in their city which had been consistently recognized as India’s cleanest city. Indore achieved this title for seven consecutive years to win Swachh Survekshan Award. The people of Indore had been saying that the hearts of people of Indore are also as clean as their city.
The people of Indore are known for cultivating meaningful relationships, but a girl hailing from this city defamed the sacred institution of marriage.
It is good that the people of Indore have decided to amend their mistakes for blaming Meghalaya in the beginning. They have now decided to send more tourists to Meghalaya and will apologize for this mistake.
The people of Indore will now be telling the world that Meghalaya is safe and beautiful. They will also ensure that Meghalaya tourism’s image is restored.
People of Indore are indeed sad after this gruesome murder because they had been painstakingly trying to cultivate their city’s image over the years. I am sure, one unfortunate incident will not damage the image of Indore.
Murder on honeymoon: Punish the culprits soon
With fresh revelations surfacing about the circumstances in which the plot to kill Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi was hatched and executed, Raja’s bride Sonam is now being taken by Meghalaya Police to Shillong to tie the loose ends of this honeymoon murder.
Sonam was found in a disoriented state at a ‘dhaba’ near Ghazipur in UP on early Monday morning, after being on the run for 16 days. UP police handed her over to a team of Meghalaya police, which obtained a transit remand, for taking her to Shillong.
Sonam, her boyfriend Raj Kushwaha, and the three alleged contract killers, Vishal Chauhan, Akash Rajput and Anand, are now in police custody. All of them will be brought to Meghalaya for interrogation and prosecution.
Questions that are still rankling in the minds of people include, why Sonam resorted to such a heinous crime and whether she was forced to marry Raja.
Facts are emerging about how the plot was hatched in a café in Indore and Meghalaya was selected as the location of crime.
Raja Raghuvanshi’s body, brutally murdered with a ‘dao’ (single-edged sword), was found from a forest in East Khasi Hill district on June 2, but his bride Sonam was missing. Both the MP and Meghalaya police were searching for Sonam for the last 16 days.
Meghalaya Deputy CM said, the crime probably took place because of a love triangle. He said, Sonam had asked the three contract killers to reach Shillong, and the three killers have confessed to the crime. Call detail records of Sonam’s phone reportedly show that she was in constant touch with her boyfriend Raj Kushwaha.
If facts prove that it was Sonam who hatched the plot to kill her groom, then questions will surely arise about the issue of marital relationships.
The revelation that she had asked the contract killers to come to Meghalaya during the honeymoon period is surely going to strike fear in the minds of people.
The Meghalaya honeymoon murder is not the first of its kind. In March 4 this year, a 35-year-old ex-merchant navy employee Saurabh Rajput was brutally murdered and his dismembered body was found inside a cement-filled blue drum 15 days later in Meerut. Cops arrested his wife Muskan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla after they returned from a trip to Himachal Pradesh.
In Haryana’s Bhiwani, Raveena, a YouTuber, along with her social media boyfriend Suresh, strangled to death her husband Praveen, and dumped the body in a drain. Raveena was arrested and her lover is still absconding.
In Bijnore, UP, on April 4, a railway employee Deepak Kumar’s wife Shivani confessed to sedating her husband with sleeping pills and then strangulating him. It was a love marriage between Shivani and Deepak 18 months ago.
There are many similar cases of marriage-related crime. In some cases, the husband’s body was found in a drum, or inside a suitcase or a refrigerator. In most of the cases, the wife’s lover committed the murder.
Such incidents are a matter of serious concern for civil society. If there is marital discord or if a woman feels she is unwilling to live with her husband, there are legal paths available for a mutual separation followed by divorce.
Murders are committed in such cases because people in general fear social pressure. There is also this impression that killers can be contracted to eliminate the husband.
In all such cases, it is advisable that investigation is completed at the earliest and the culprits are given the harshest exemplary punishment possible. One can only hope that such a step can reduce the number of such incidents.
Marines in LA: Trump had no other option
US President Donald Trump has sent another 2,000 National Guards and 700 Marines to Los Angeles on the fourth day of arson, stoning and violence.
Dozens of protesters have been arrested since Friday, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers carried out raids in Los Angeles which a sizeable Latino population. The population in Westlake and Paramount is more than 82 per cent Hispanic. 44 immigrants were arrested from a job site on Friday, while another 77 immigrants were rounded up in greater Los Angeles area the same day.
Street demonstrations have been taking place continuously since Saturday. Law enforcement vehicles were set on fire and there was stoning. Trump has described these protesters as ‘insurrectonists’.
The protesters say, they are raising their voice against injustice because families are being torn asunder in the guise of forcible arrests and deportation. Law enforcement officials allege that sex offenders, fentanyl dealers, human smugglers and child rapists had been given a free hand in Los Angeles in recent times.
The protests have intensified because Los Angeles Police Department had been using limited force against these protesters. It was only when police failed to control the situation that Trump decided to send the Marines and National Guard.
Secondly, the Mayor of Los Angeles, while promising to bring the situation under control, has criticized Trump’s decision to send the National Guard.
Whatever may be the issue, whether it is immigration or law enforcement, security forces will have to enforce law and order if people resort to arson and violence. Trump had no other option but to send the Marines and National Guard to LA.