Raja Raghuvanshi Murder Case: Supreme Court To Hear Meghalaya's Challenge To Sonam Raghuvanshi's Bail On July 21

The Bench of Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice P.B. Varale adjourned the hearing to next Tuesday. 

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Meghalaya government, requested that the matter be taken up either at the end of the board or at 2 p.m., Mehta informed the Bench that the case involved the issue of non-supply of grounds of arrest and required final adjudication.

Justice Sundresh asked, "What is this?"

Responding, the Solicitor General said, "This is the matter where grounds of arrest were not supplied."

On being reminded of the case, Justice Sundresh remarked, "Oh! That lady."

Mehta replied, "Yes, she killed her husband in the honeymoon. The main matter is coming up. This has to be finally disposed of."

Taking note of the submission, the Bench directed that the Meghalaya government's plea challenging the bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi be listed for hearing on July 21.

The case stems from the alleged murder of Raja Raghuvanshi during the couple's honeymoon, with Sonam Raghuvanshi being the principal accused. The Meghalaya government has challenged the order granting her bail, contending that the matter warrants consideration by the Supreme Court.

Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the murder of her husband had told the Supreme Court that she has been falsely implicated in the case which is based on circumstantial evidence. In her response to the challenge made by State of Meghalaya against the High Court order that upheld bail granted to Sonam, court has been told that the prosecution has to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt during the course of the trial thus, mere allegations on her does not prove the offence particularly in the case of circumstantial evidence.

Earlier, the Supreme Court said that it will be taking up the case challenging bail granted to Sonam on Tuesday July 14, 2026. A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Shree Chandrashekhar has directed that written submission be filed by then so the matter is heard at length. Noting that the case before it is a serious one, the bench said, "We will consider this matter at length and see if the matter is to be referred to a larger bench..".

Previously, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had vehemently argued before Supreme Court against the order granting bail to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi during their honeymoon in Meghalaya last year. SG Tushar Mehta told a bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and Sheel Nagu that Sonam had absconded to Uttar Pradesh from Shillong, Meghalaya. This is really shocking, SG Mehta argued today before the bench.

"I will show four pages. this is a case where the couple goes to Meghalaya, it is a pre-determined murder, wife takes husband to some hilly areas and kills..there are three accomplices...assaulted, he was killed and dead body was thrown in the hills..", he had added.

While refusing to stay the order granting bail to Sonam, Court had on July 3, issued notice in the plea moved by State of Meghalaya against the said High Court order that upheld bail granted to her. The court sought Sonam's response to the State's challenge and listed the matter on July 9, 2026 for further hearing.

Background of the Case

The SLP before Supreme Court challenges the judgment dated June 29, 2026, by which the High Court of Meghalaya at Shillong dismissed the State's plea and refused to interfere with a trial court order that had freed the accused on a technical ground.

According to the petition, the trial court granted bail to Sonam Raghuvanshi essentially because one of seven documents prepared at the time of her arrest carried a typographical error, citing "Section 403 BNS" instead of "Section 103 BNS," the provision under which she is charged with murder. The State contends that six other contemporaneous documents, all bearing her own signature, correctly recorded the grounds of her arrest, and that she never raised the issue in her first three bail applications.

The case relates to the killing of Raja Raghuvanshi, whose body was recovered from a gorge near Sohra on June 2, 2025, ten days after he went missing during his honeymoon with Sonam. Investigators allege the murder was carefully planned before the couple even left Indore, in conspiracy with Sonam's associate Raj Kushwaha and three other men who trekked alongside the couple before the killing near Wei Sawdong, where he was allegedly attacked with machetes and his body thrown into a deep gorge.

Sonam was arrested in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, on June 9, 2025, after allegedly staging a plan to resurface with a false kidnapping story. The petition states that at the time of arrest, she signed five separate documents, including the memorandum of arrest and an intimation of rights, all indicating she had been informed of the reasons for her arrest. A magistrate in Sohra who examined her days later also recorded that she had confirmed her awareness of the grounds.

The State's plea notes that Sonam filed four bail applications in under a year, the first three rejected after courts found a prima facie case, a flight risk, and a likelihood of her influencing witnesses. It was only in the fourth application, filed in April, that non-communication of arrest grounds was raised for the first time. The trial court accepted this and granted bail on April 27 without examining whether any actual prejudice had been caused, prompting the State's unsuccessful petition before the High Court.

The petition further cites forensic findings, including a CFSL report said to place Sonam at the same locations as the deceased and other accused through CCTV footage and seized material, corroborating the movement of co-accused Vishal Singh Chauhan, Aakash Singh Rajput and Anand Kurmi along the same route. Raja's brother, Vipin Raghuvanshi, had filed the missing person's complaint that led to registration of the FIR. The chargesheet, filed in September 2025 against five accused, was supplemented in February to add arms-related charges against a sixth person.

Case Title: State of Meghalaya v. Sonam Raghuvanshi@ Bitti@ Bittu

Bench: Justices MM Sundresh and PB Varale

Hearing Date: July 14, 2026