Sonam posted from Raja's account after his murder, returned to Indore to meet Raj Kushwaha

Raja and Sonam were in Meghalaya for their honeymoon. The two got married on May 11 and soon left for their honeymoon on May 20 and went missing on May 23. On June 2, Raja's body was discovered in a deep gorge near a waterfall in the Sohra area (also known as Cherrapunji) of Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills district. 

Police revealed that Sonam conspired to kill her husband with the help of her alleged boyfriend, Raj Kushwaha. The duo allegedly hired contract killers to carry out the murder. Sonam, Raj Kushwaha, and three other accused have been arrested.

Here are the key developments in the case

1. Soon after the murder of her husband, Sonam Raghuvanshi, posted from Raja Raghuvanshi's account at around 2:45 am: "saat janmon ka saath hai". The message was posted in an attempt to portray that the husband was still alive. It is pertinent to mention that during the honeymoon, Sonam did not upload any photos or videos, which raised suspicion and gave police a lead. 
2. Following the murder, Sonam was captured on CCTV interacting with the three accused individuals at a location approximately 10 kilometers from the crime scene.
3. On June 25, Sonam travelled by train from Shillong to Indore via Siliguri, where she met Raj Kushwaha. She stayed at a rented house in Indore before a driver dropped her in Uttar Pradesh. She eventually reached Ghazipur via Varanasi. To avoid being traced, she destroyed her mobile phone. The weapon used in the murder was reportedly procured near the Guwahati railway station.
4. At the crime scene, a jacket belonging to Akash (one of the killers) was found, a raincoat linked to Sonam, and Raja's phone screen were recovered. Sonam had reportedly given her raincoat to Akash, which had blood stains and was discarded at the scene.
5. Vipin Raghuvanshi, brother of the deceased Raja Raghuvanshi, claimed that Sonam Raghuvanshi's mother kept information from their family and that she also knew about the alleged affair between Raj Kushwaha and her daughter, Sonam. He said that before the marriage, Sonam had told her mother, "If this marriage happens, the outcome will not be good."
6. An eyewitnesses said that one of the accused, Raj Kushwaha, drove a vehicle to take people to the victim's funeral.  "When Raja's body arrived here, Sonam's family, whose home is in Govind Nagar Kharcha area, had arranged four -five vehicles for people to attend the funeral. Kushwaha was driving the four-wheeler in which I went, though we did not talk. Only after seeing his photograph in the media post his arrest, I recollected this episode," said eye-witness Lakshman Singh Rathore.
7. Sonam, along with her lover Raj Kushwaha, devised a plan to make Raja Raghuvanshi's murder appear as a robbery and her own kidnapping. She falsely told the police that she had been drugged and sent to Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, to avoid suspicion. According to the investigation, Sonam had assured Raj Kushwaha that she would marry him. Their plan was that after Raja's death, she would pose as a grieving widow, and her family, sympathetic to her condition, would eventually agree to her marriage with Raj, including her father who might otherwise have objected.
8. To execute the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, a 'Daav', a small axe typically used for chopping wood, was ordered online in Guwahati. According to the police, on May 23, Sonam lured her husband Raja to a hill in the Korsa area under the guise of a photoshoot. There, she took Rs 15,000 from Raja's wallet and handed it to the hired killers, instructing them, "You have to kill him." She also promised them a reward of Rs 20 lakh after the task was completed.