The Supreme Court will hear a petition filed by the Meghalaya government challenging the bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the high-profile Meghalaya honeymoon murder case. The plea comes after the Meghalaya High Court upheld a Shillong court's April 2026 order granting her conditional bail, dismissing the state government's appeal.
Representing the state, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta requested the vacation bench to fast-track the matter. Consequently, the court agreed to list the state's petition for a hearing on Friday. Mehta argued during the mention that the lower court granted Sonam bail on the single technical ground that the police failed to communicate the reasons for her arrest during detention.
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The Meghalaya High Court turned down the state's petition, pointing directly to critical procedural failures by law enforcement during Sonam's initial arrest. The High Court ruled that the investigating agency had failed to properly communicate the grounds of Sonam's arrest, holding that this violated her constitutional rights under Article 22.
It observed that multiple arrest-related documents, including the arrest memo, case diary, and justification checklist, incorrectly cited Section 403(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) instead of Section 103(1), which deals with murder.
Following the Meghalaya High Court's dismissal of the state's petition challenging Sonam's bail, the victim's family is moving their legal battle to the apex court. Speaking to PTI, Raja's elder brother, Vipin Raghuvanshi, announced that they will soon file a petition in the Supreme Court seeking the immediate cancellation of her bail.
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The case stems from the alleged murder of Indore-based businessman Raja Raghuvanshi during his honeymoon in Meghalaya in May 2025. Police allege that Sonam conspired with her alleged lover, Raj Kushwaha, and hired contract killers to murder her husband. She was arrested on June 9, 2025, in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. Prior to securing bail, she spent more than 10 months in judicial custody at the Shillong District Jail.
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