The Meghalaya Police on Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking an immediate stay of bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the alleged murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, arguing that she may evade justice if released.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the state, mentioned the issue of urgent listing before a leave bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Shail Nagu and sought early hearing on Friday.
“The Supreme Court granted bail saying that reasons for arrest were not given to her… It was just a typo. We want the bail order suspended. She will abscond if she is released,” Mehta said.
The authority agreed to consider the state’s request for expedited listing.
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The appeal comes days after the Meghalaya High Court upheld a Shillong court order granting bail to Sonam on the grounds that the police had failed to effectively communicate the reasons for her arrest, thereby violating the procedural safeguards available to the arrested person.
A single bench of Justice W. Dingdoh on June 29 dismissed the state’s application challenging the April 2026 order of the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Judicial), Shillong, holding that the flaw in the arrest procedures went to the root of the order.
The Supreme Court rejected the state’s argument that repeated references in the arrest documents to Section 403(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act, rather than Section 103(1) which deals with murder, were mere typographical errors.
In a detailed ruling, the court went further, finding that the document purporting to inform Sonam of the reasons for her arrest had been prepared “without any thought” and contained completely irrelevant allegations that had nothing to do with the case.
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The Supreme Court noted that among the reasons Sonam was informed were suspicion of being a “deserter from any of the armed forces of the Union”, committing “an offense outside India”, and failure to notify her residence after her release as a convicted prisoner.
“If this is the way grounds for arrest are announced, it reflects complete non-application of prudent mind on the part of the arresting agency,” the apex court noted, adding that such glaring errors struck at the very foundation of the arrest process and justified grant of bail.
It also rejected the prosecution’s contention that the repeated reference to the erroneous criminal ruling in several arrest-related documents was an innocuous clerical error.
The Supreme Court observed that “if the foundational basis for building a case against the accused/respondent turns out to be lacking, all other attempts to rectify the subsequent proceedings or process will fail.”
At the same time, Judge Dingdoh explained that the findings were limited to the legality of the arrest procedure and did not cast any doubt on the investigation, the indictment or the trial itself.
The state, represented by Solicitor General Amit Kumar before the Supreme Court, said Sonam was fully aware of the allegations against her and that no real bias occurred despite the flaws in the arrest documents. She stressed that violations can be remedied and cannot justify bail in a murder case.
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The case relates to the murder of 29-year-old Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, who traveled to Meghalaya with his wife Sonam for their honeymoon in May 2025. The couple went missing after checking out of a house in Nongriat on May 23. Raja’s body was later recovered from a gorge near Wisawdong Falls in Sohra, while Sonam was traced days later in Uttar Pradesh.
The Meghalaya Police have since filed a chargesheet running to more than 700 pages, alleging that the murder was a deliberate conspiracy hatched by Sonam in collusion with her alleged lover Raj Kushwaha and others.
