Sonam Raghuvanshi, accused of killing her husband during their honeymoon in Meghalaya in 2025, was granted bail on Monday by a court in Shillong in the northeastern state.
The court reportedly agreed to release her on bail after finding that the police had not properly informed her of the reasons for her arrest, which affected her defence.
It is worth noting that Sonam was arrested along with her alleged lover Raj Kushwaha and three others on charges of conspiring and carrying out the murder of Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi.
Read also | Honeymoon, affair and gruesome murder: the Sonam Raghuvanshi case that shook India
Why was Sonam Raghuvanshi released on bail by a Meghalaya court?
Sonam was reportedly released on bail after the court found that the police did not properly inform her of the reasons for her arrest, which affected her defence.
Additional DC (Judicial), Shillong, Dashaleen R Kharpteng, was granted bail in her fourth plea, Living law I mentioned. The court noted that the ‘Declaration of Reasons for Arrest’ form shown to it had no check boxes checked and also pointed out a wrong penal section in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The court also held that there was nothing on record to show that Sonam had legal representation when she first appeared before the court in Ghazipur on June 9, 2025. As a result, the petition on non-announcement of reasons for arrest could not have been filed earlier.
The Shillong court then agreed to grant her bail on the condition that she furnish a personal bond of $100,000 $50,000 and other conditions.
Her lawyer said that the trial had been stalled for more than two months through no fault of her own. It was said that she could not be kept in pre-conviction detention for an indefinite period without trial.
Her lawyer also said that at the time of arrest, the police failed to fulfill the legal requirements to inform her of the reasons for the arrest, thus violating Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India, the report said.
After hearing both sides, the court found that in all documents linked to Sonam, including the checklist justifying the arrest and the case diary extract, the police had wrongly cited Section 403(1) Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The court noted that none of the documents informed it that she had actually been arrested for a more serious offense under Section 103(1) Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Meghalaya honeymoon murder case
The couple traveled to Guwahati and Shillong for their honeymoon on May 20, but were reported missing on May 23.
After nearly 10 days of search operations, Raja’s body was recovered on June 2 from a deep ravine in Sohra, in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district. Sonam later surrendered in Ghazipur.
She and four other accused, Raj Kushwaha, who are said to be Sonam’s lovers, along with alleged accomplices Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan and Anand Kurmi, have been arrested and are still in judicial custody.
In a 790-page chargesheet, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has formally charged Raja’s wife Sonam Raghuvanshi, her alleged lover Raj Kushwaha, and three hired attackers, Vishal Singh Chauhan, Akash Rajput and Anand Kurmi, under Sections 103(1), 238(A) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Act, 2023, officials said.
