A court in Shillong has granted bail to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the main accused in the murder case of Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, after observing serious procedural lapses in the manner in which the grounds of her arrest were communicated to her by the police.The order was passed on Monday by the court of Additional Deputy Commissioner (Judicial) DR Kharbteng while hearing Sonam Raghuvanshi’s bail application in connection with the high-profile murder case linked to Sohra in Meghalaya. In its order, the court said the failure to clearly inform the accused about the exact grounds of arrest amounted to a violation of the constitutional protections guaranteed under Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India. The court further observed that the lapse had affected the accused’s ability to prepare her defence properly.
The case relates to the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, a businessman from Indore, whose body was recovered during a police search operation following a complaint filed by his brother, Vipin Raghuvanshi, on June 3, 2025.According to court records, the FIR registered at Sohra Police Station under Case No. 7/2025 included charges under Sections 103(1), 238(a), 309(6), and 3(6) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). However, the court found that the “Intimation of Grounds of Arrest” provided to Sonam Raghuvanshi mentioned Section 403(1) instead of Section 103(1). The court noted that the discrepancy was not limited to a single document. It pointed out that the same incorrect section appeared repeatedly across several official documents connected to the arrest process, including the arrest memo, inspection memo, checklist for justification of arrest, case diary extracts and documents informing the accused of her legal rights.
Rejecting the prosecution’s argument that the mistake was merely clerical in nature, the court observed that such repeated errors could not be ignored, especially in a criminal case involving serious charges. The court also stated that the documents failed to properly communicate the exact facts and accusations forming the basis of the arrest. According to the order, none of the check boxes in the arrest communication format were marked to clearly indicate the charges against the accused. The judge further said there was no material before the court to show that Sonam Raghuvanshi had legal representation when she was first produced before a court in Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh after her arrest on June 9, 2025.