Meghalaya: Missing Indore woman’s brother suspects she was abducted

GUWAHATI: The brother of Sonam Raghuvanshi, the Indore woman who has been missing from Meghalaya’s Sohra (Cherrapunjee) area since May 23, suspects she was abducted by local miscreants.

The decomposed body of Sonam’s husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, was recovered from a gorge on June 2. The police said he was murdered.

Govind Raghuvanshi, the missing woman’s brother, said there was every reason to believe she was abducted by locals. He expressed disappointment with the search operation, which he said gave the impression that the police were looking for her body.

“Sonam’s belongings, including two mobile phones and a handbag, should have been found near the area where Raja’s body lay. We are told there are hardly any visitors in that area. If that were the case, how are truckloads of garbage piled up at the 200-feet deep gorge?” he asked.

“None but some locals would know how to dump a dead body or push a person into a garbage dumping ditch. It seems everything was planned,” Mr Raghuvanshi said, adding that the families of the couple have petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the incident.

Sonam and Raja Raghuvanshi chose Meghalaya to spend their honeymoon after tying the knot on May 11. They rented a two-wheeler from the State’s capital, Shillong, and set out for Sohra, about 60 km away, on May 22. The two-wheeler was found abandoned at a cafe on the road between Shillong and Sohra on May 24.

Torrential rains and slippery conditions hampered the search operations by the local police, and the personnel of the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force. Drones and sniffer dogs have also been used.

Vivek Syiem, the Superintendent of Police of the East Khasi Hills District, said a machete found near Raja’s body indicated he was murdered. A woman’s shirt and a raincoat, believed to be Sonam’s, were also retrieved.

Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma, said those responsible for the Indore tourist’s murder would be brought to book. “It is too early to say now, as there are a few missing links,” he said.

However, his predecessor and Trinamool Congress leader, Mukul M. Sangma, slammed the NDA government for aggressively promoting tourism without ensuring the safety and security of the visitors and the locals. “The government has failed to expand and monitor the CCTV networks across critical urban and highway areas,” he said. EOM