Meghalaya Honeymoon Murder Case: SC Says Sonam Raghuvanshi Will Remain Out on Bail

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to cancel the bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi.

The prime accused in the alleged murder of her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, observing that she had already been released from custody.

The Meghalaya government had approached the apex court after the Meghalaya High Court upheld a Shillong trial court’s April order granting bail to Raghuvanshi.

During the hearing, the bench indicated that it was initially inclined to stay the bail order. However, after being informed that Raghuvanshi had already been released, it decided not to interfere.

“We were prima facie inclined to stay the order, but since she has already been released, we do not want to be too harsh,” the bench observed.

Appearing for Sonam Raghuvanshi, her counsel argued that there was no possibility of tampering with evidence, as the investigation was complete and no further recoveries were pending.

“There is no recovery to be made. Strict bail conditions have already been imposed. She is already in Shillong and cannot tamper with the evidence,” the counsel submitted.

The court responded that it was attempting to strike a balance between the competing interests in the case and directed that the trial should proceed.

“We are trying to balance the issue. Let the trial continue,” the bench said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Meghalaya government, confirmed that Raghuvanshi had already been released on bail. He also referred to another recent murder case from Pune while arguing that similar incidents had become more frequent.

Why Sonam Raghuvanshi was granted bail

Sonam Raghuvanshi, a resident of Indore, was arrested in June last year in connection with the alleged murder of her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi.

The couple had gone missing on May 23 while vacationing in Meghalaya’s Sohra region. Raja’s body was recovered from a gorge nearly nine days later.

On April 27, a Shillong trial court granted Sonam bail after holding that the investigating agency had failed to properly communicate the grounds of her arrest.

The court found that several arrest-related documents—including the arrest memo, inspection memo, justification checklist and case diary extract—incorrectly cited Section 403(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita instead of Section 103(1), which deals with the offence of murder.

It ruled that the repeated reference to the wrong legal provision could not be treated as a mere clerical error and observed that the documents failed to clearly inform the accused that she was being arrested in connection with a murder case.

Challenging the order, the Meghalaya government argued before the High Court that the incorrect section was simply a typographical mistake that had not caused any prejudice to the accused.

The High Court, however, dismissed the appeal, noting that the same error had appeared in multiple official documents. It also observed that portions of the arrest records appeared to have been copied from standard templates, including an unrelated reference describing the accused as a deserter from the armed forces.

Calling it a case of “total non-application of mind” by the investigating agency, the High Court held that the arrest documents failed to specify the allegations against the accused or properly communicate the grounds for her arrest.

Following the High Court’s decision, the Meghalaya government moved the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of Sonam Raghuvanshi’s bail. The apex court has now declined to interfere, allowing her to remain on bail while the trial continues.