Raja Raghuvanshi murder: Meghalaya Police gets transit remand of Indore flat owner

Gwalior, Jun 24 (PTI) Lokendra Singh Tomar, the owner of a flat in Indore where Sonam Raghuvanshi stayed after fleeing Meghalaya following the murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi, was on Tuesday sent in the transit remand of Meghalaya Police for three days, an official said.

Tomar was detained from a flat in Gandhi Nagar area of Gwalior on Monday after the DCP (Crime) of Indore requested the SP of Gwalior. He was kept at Mohana police station overnight. He was handed over to a team of Meghalaya Police on Tuesday morning, said police station in-charge Rashid Khan.

He was produced in the district court which sent him to the transit remand of Meghalaya Police for 72 hours, he said.

Tomar was taken to Indore. He will be subsequently taken to Shillong en route Delhi and Guwahati.

East Khasi Hills district Superintendent of Police V Syiem on Monday said Tomar was wanted in connection with the destruction and concealment of evidence vital to the case.

Meanwhile, Tomar claimed that he didn't know the accused involved in Raja Raghuvanshi's murder and termed charges against him as false.

"I am aware of allegations. I had given my flat on rent in Indore. I do not know anyone in this case. The bag being talked about was not with me. Apart from this, nothing has been recovered from me. I used to talk only to James. I will soon hold a press conference and answer all the queries," he told reporters while police whisked him away.

The SIT of Meghalaya Police had arrested property dealer Silome James in Dewas district of MP and security guard Balla Ahirwar from Ashok Nagar district for allegedly concealing a box belonging to Sonam, who hid it in a flat in Indore after the murder last month.

The box is believed to have contained key evidence linked to the murder, sources had said.

Raghuvanshi married Sonam on May 11 in Indore, and the couple went to Meghalaya for their honeymoon on May 20. They had gone missing on May 23 in Sohra, about 65 km from Shillong. His decomposed body was found in a gorge near a waterfall on June 2.

After the murder, Sonam fled the state, travelling through Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh before reaching Indore.

Sonam, accused of conspiring with her boyfriend to kill her husband, surrendered on June 8 before police in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur district, while four other accused have been arrested from different locations in MP and UP.

Investigators have so far arrested eight persons, including Lokendra Tomar, Sonam, her boyfriend Raj Kushwaha and three hitmen. PTI COR MAS NSK