Who is Sanjay Verma? Over 200 calls, long late-night conversations with Sonam before Raja Raghuvanshi’s murder in Meghalaya puzzle cops | Indore News
NEW DELHI: In the twisted saga of businessman Raja Raghuvanshi’s murder during his honeymoon in Meghalaya, investigators are now chasing a new name, ‘Sanjay Verma‘. Call records show that Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused and Raja’s wife, had long and repeated phone conversations with a number registered under this name. But police say Sanjay Verma may not exist, at least not in the way records suggest. The number, police suspect, was being actively used by Raj Kushwaha, Sonam’s alleged lover and co-accused, a Class 12 dropout who worked as an accountant in her family’s sunmica business in Indore. The number clocked over 200 calls in March and April, with frequent early morning, evening and late-night long conversations.The number was last seen active on WhatsApp at 11.30pm on June 8, around the same time when Kushwaha and others were being picked up by police from multiple locations. With this new line of investigation, police are no longer seeing the case as just a tale of a love triangle. “We are exploring whether someone stood to gain from Raja’s death,” said East Khasi Hills SP Vivek Syiem. “Preliminary investigation pointed to a love triangle, but we are examining whether there were other motives, including financial gain, as Raja had recently bagged a contract,” he added.
Crime scene reconstruction: A chilling timeline
Police recently recreated the final moments of Raja’s life at the Riat Arliang parking lot, near Meghalaya’s Weisawdong Falls, where he was lured and attacked. A fireman stood in for Raja as the accused replayed the crime. According to investigators:
- The first blow came from Vishal Chauhan, followed by Akash Rajput, and then Anand Kurmi — Sonam’s co-conspirators, handpicked by Kushwaha.
- Sonam stood in front of Raja during the attack. When his blood splattered on her white shirt, she fled.
- Raja’s body was later tossed into a gorge — two men held his arms, one grabbed his legs.
Police confirmed that Sonam did not help dispose of the body, but she did damage his phone, and the others later destroyed it completely.
A second weapon
During the crime scene reenactment, the accused also revealed the location of a second murder weapon — a machete with a steel handle, bought from Guwahati. A special SDRF team recovered it from the gorge after a lengthy search. The white shirt found at the scene was identified as belonging to Akash. A tourist captured a short video of Raja and Sonam trekking near the Double Decker Bridge — possibly the last footage of him alive. “We have the clip. It establishes they were together before the murder. We will call the tourist for a statement,” said SP Syiem. A Meghalaya police team visited the homes of both Sonam and Raj Kushwaha in Indore this week, questioning relatives and staff at the family business. Sonam’s brother, Govind Raghuvanshi, accompanied the police during their visit. While he denied knowing about any ‘Sanjay Verma’, he said he was “ready for any test” if needed. Kushwaha’s mother, Chunni Devi, was also questioned at their modest home. She told police she had no knowledge of her son’s involvement in the case.
