‘Sonam came to the shop crying’: Ghazipur dhaba owner recalls late-night moment that solved the Indore missing couple case

A key moment in the high-profile Indore honeymoon missing case unfolded quietly at a Ghazipur roadside eatery in the early hours of Monday. Sahil Yadav, the owner of Kashi Dhaba on the Varanasi–Ghazipur highway, recalled how Sonam Raghuvanshi—now accused of orchestrating her husband’s murder—appeared at his shop in distress and asked to make a phone call.

Speaking to PTI, Yadav said, “It was about 1 AM when she arrived. She was crying and asked if she could use the phone. I asked her to sit and then informed the police. They came and took her with them. That’s all that happened.”

Sonam Raghuvanshi's arrest from a highway eatery

According to officials, Sonam had travelled from Meghalaya to Uttar Pradesh after her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, was found dead in a gorge in Meghalaya's Sohra area on June 2. The couple had been on their honeymoon, but both had gone missing on May 23 under suspicious circumstances.

While three men accused of executing the killing were picked up in coordinated raids in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, Sonam’s arrest took a different turn. She surfaced not in Meghalaya, where the crime allegedly occurred, but at a small dhaba more than 1,200 km away in Ghazipur.

Police confirm surrender, family disputes narrative

The Meghalaya Police said Sonam surrendered at the Nandganj police station in Ghazipur. Her father, however, disputes the version shared by authorities. “She was not arrested. She came on her own to the dhaba and called her brother. The police reached there and took her away,” said Devi Singh Raghuvanshi, Sonam’s father, while accusing Meghalaya Police of fabricating the story and calling for a CBI inquiry.

Case that shocked the nation

Raja Raghuvanshi’s murder has triggered nationwide attention. The Meghalaya Police claim Sonam hired three men from Madhya Pradesh to kill her husband during their honeymoon. Eyewitness accounts, including from a local guide who saw the couple with three Hindi-speaking men, helped investigators track down the suspects.

As of now, police say one more suspect remains at large, and the investigation is ongoing in multiple states.