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Journalism of Courage
Hours after his daughter Sonam was arrested for allegedly hiring killers to get rid of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi while the two were honeymooning in Meghalaya, her father Devi Singh recalled the first call he received about her having been found.
Speaking from Indore, Devi Singh said he got a call from Sonam’s cousin, Govind, who informed him that Sonam had been found at a hotel in Uttar Pradesh. “I was woken up at 5 am. Govind told me ‘chori mil gayi hai, bahut ro rahi hai (she has been found, she is crying a lot)’. She said, ‘bhaiya mujhe bacha lo (brother save me)’. She was asked to stay inside the store room of the dhabha. Govind then called the police, and she was taken into custody,” he claimed.
Singh said the couple got married after both saw each other’s biodata and had a meeting. “They spoke to each other and then agreed to marry. I don’t accept the police’s claims that she did this. How can our children do this?”
Govind, who was in Shillong and taking part in the rescue operations, was also the one who called Raja’s brother, Vipin Raghuvanshi, and informed him that Sonam had been found.
Vipin said: “I did not believe it. I demanded to see her. Then he called me from some other number and showed me Sonam’s face on video call.”
Vipin later contacted the local police in UP and found out about the allegations. “It’s hard to digest this. We don’t think Sonam is a suspect. Till the time Sonam doesn’t say this from her mouth, we are not willing to accept this.”
“Yes, it was an arranged marriage. But they were happy to marry. Finally, it was their wish; they were not forced. Sonam was so happy when she accompanied her mother-in-law for her wedding shopping. Going to Shillong was their idea. Sonam did not impose anything on him. Raja doesn’t have rivalries with anyone, nor does he have any police case against him,” Vipin said.
Uma Raghuvanshi, Raja’s mother, claimed Sonam stayed with the family for four days after the marriage and had asked Raja to take her to Shillong. “She has asked my son to book the tickets. My family did not go to Shillong. We were unaware about that region. She convinced him to take her there. Their family had visited the region last year,” Uma said.
“We had done a background check on her. Her father told us that she goes to work and returns home and doesn’t socialise much. After the marriage, she stayed on the top floor of the home and used to come downstairs to eat, the interaction was not that much. We also wanted to give her privacy. But she was a good daughter-in-law, with me. She was happy when we went out shopping for wedding. She used to call me mother and hug me. We could never imagine in our wildest dreams that Sonam could do this.”
The couple, who had married just last month, were reported missing while they were travelling in Sohra in Meghalaya during their honeymoon.
Their family members reached Meghalaya after they couldn’t reach them on the phone, and a massive search operation was launched involving the police, SDRF, NDRF, SOT and drones. Eventually, Raja’s body was found last Monday and retrieved from a gorge below Wei Sawdong Falls. Sonam had been missing until she was found in UP.
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