Overview

• The filing in the Sohra Judicial Magistrate First Class court names Sonam Raghuvanshi, Raj Kushwaha, Akash Singh Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan and Anand Kurmi under BNS Sections 103(1), 238(a) and 61(2), and all five are in judicial custody.
• Investigators allege Sonam and Kushwaha conspired to kill Raja by hiring three assailants who executed the attack near Wei Sawdong on May 23 in her presence.
• Submitted material includes recovered machetes, blood-stained clothing, CCTV footage and multiple witness statements, following crime-scene reconstructions by the SIT.
• Three others — Lokendra Tomar, Balbir Ahirwar and Silome James — were arrested for allegedly destroying evidence, with a supplementary chargesheet expected after pending forensic reports.
• The case moved from a late-May missing persons probe to a murder investigation after Raja’s body was found in a Sohra gorge on June 2, and his family has since demanded the death penalty for the accused.