Sonam Raghuvanshi, the Indore woman accused of plotting her husband’s murder during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, being brought for medical examination at a hospital in Ghazipur. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Meghalaya Police on Thursday (July 2, 2026) moved the Supreme Court seeking an immediate stay on the bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the alleged murder of her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, during their honeymoon in Meghalaya.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State, mentioned the matter before a vacation Bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and Sheel Nagu and sought an urgent hearing.
The law officer pointed out that the Meghalaya High Court, on June 29, had upheld an order of a Shillong trial court granting bail to Ms. Raghuvanshi on the ground that the police had failed to effectively communicate the grounds of her arrest. He argued that there was a plausible risk of the accused absconding if the bail order was allowed to operate.
“The High Court has granted bail, stating that the grounds of arrest were not provided to her… It was a mere typographical error though. We want the bail order to be stayed. She will abscond if released,” Mr. Mehta submitted.
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Acceding to the request, the Bench agreed to list the matter for hearing on Friday (July 3, 2026).
The High Court had dismissed the State’s appeal against an April 2026 order of the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Judicial), Shillong, granting bail to Ms. Raghuvanshi on procedural grounds. Justice W. Diengdoh held that the police had failed to effectively communicate the grounds of her arrest, thereby violating the constitutional safeguards available to an arrested person.
Rejecting the prosecution’s contention that the discrepancy was merely an innocuous clerical or typographical error, the High Court held that the document purportedly communicating the grounds of arrest had been prepared “without any application of mind” and contained allegations that bore no connection to the case.
“If this is the manner in which the intimation of the grounds of arrest is made, the same reflects a total non-application of judicious mind on the part of the arresting agency,” the High Court observed. It held that such glaring errors struck at the very foundation of the arrest process and justified the grant of bail.
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“The foundational basis for building up a case against the accused/respondent being found lacking, all other attempts to rectify the subsequent actions or process will have to fail”, Justice Diengdoh said.
The Judge, however, clarified that the findings were confined to the legality of the arrest procedure and did not cast any aspersions on the investigation or the trial.
Before the High Court, the State, represented by Advocate General Amit Kumar, submitted that the inadvertent error had caused no real prejudice to the accused, who was fully aware of the nature and gravity of the allegations against her. It argued that the defect was merely procedural, and could not, by itself, constitute a valid ground for the grant of bail.
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 on May 23 while vacationing in the Sohra region of the State. Raja Raghuvanshi’s body was recovered from a deep gorge on June 2.
According to the prosecution, Sonam conspired with hired assailants to murder her husband as part of a conspiracy allegedly hatched with her purported lover, Raj Kushwaha, with the objective of securing financial gain.
Published – July 02, 2026 12:35 pm IST
