Supreme Court to Review Bail for Murder Accused Sonam Raghuvanshi

Shillong: The Supreme Court set July 21 to hear the Meghalaya government’s challenge against the bail of Sonam Raghuvanshi. Raghuvanshi stands accused of plotting the murder of her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, during their honeymoon in Sohra. The couple vanished on May 23, 2025. Search teams found the businessman’s body in a deep gorge on June 2.

East Khasi Hills SP Vivek Syiem blamed the bail on a clerical blunder. Officers in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, cited Section 403 instead of Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in the arrest memo. The High Court previously ruled this error showed a "total non-application of judicious mind" and noted the failure to provide written grounds of arrest.

Despite this, authorities remain undeterred. "Nonetheless the trail will go on and this is a setback on the investigation. But we have not lost the war. We will look forward for the trail," Syiem stated. He confirmed police have sent all necessary files to Advocate General Amit Kumar. Teams from Meghalaya tracked the suspect across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh before her June 2025 arrest.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought an early hearing for the state. The Supreme Court previously declined to stay the bail on July 3. Now, the bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.B. Varale will weigh if a typo warrants releasing an accused in a capital case. Separately, Justices Manoj Misra and Shree Chandrashekhar signaled that conflicting precedents on arrest documentation might trigger a referral to a larger bench.