Missing Indore couple probe: Meghalaya police recovers raincoat during ongoing search operation

Guwahati: The Meghalaya police search team on Wednesday recovered a raincoat during their ongoing search operation.

Police are searching for tourist Sonam Raghuvanshi (from Indore) in the Mawkma area near Sohrarim. Raja Raghuvanshi, a resident of Indore decomposed body was found in a deep gorge near Weisawdong Falls in Meghalaya’s Sohra (Cherrapunjee).

Police have confirmed that he was murdered using a dao (machete). The discovery follows the couple’s mysterious disappearance on May 23 while visiting the scenic location.

A senior police official said, “We have recovered a raincoat from the viewpoint. It has some stains on it but we cannot say for sure if it is blood stains, forensic report will reveal.It's a three XL side raincoat so we have to find out if it is of Sonam or not. Due to heavy rains the search operations were disrupted on Wednesday.”

Raja Raghuvanshi's postmortem was done on Tuesday, Meghalaya police yet to receive the report.

On May 29, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that Law Enforcement in the High-Altitude Town Area of Sohra at Cherapunjee in East Khasi Hills District in the state have intensified their search to be able to make any headway into the case for the Missing Indore couple.

Indore Parliamentarian Shankar Lalwani recently came and met with senior police officials, including Director General of Police Idashisha Nongrang to take stock of the details into the matter.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav personally reached out to his Meghalaya counterpart, Conrad Sangma, to discuss the case, following which Lalwani made his visit.

Raja, a transport businessman, and Sonam had travelled to Meghalaya for their honeymoon on May 20.

They were last seen in Shillong’s Sohrarim area on May 23. Their abandoned scooter was discovered near Osara Hills the same day.