Two accused in Raja Raghuvanshi murder case given bail by Meghalaya court
The two accused - Lokendra Singh Tomar and Balbir Ahirwar - were granted bail on Friday, according to PTI news agency.
Tomar is the owner of the flat in Indore where Sonam had stayed after fleeing Meghalaya and Balbir was the security guard at the property.
Sonam Raghuvanshi, Raja's newly wedded wife, is accused of killing him during their honeymoon in Meghalaya with the help of her alleged lover Raj Kushwaha.
The duo granted bail faced charges related to obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence at a flat in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, where Sonam and her alleged boyfriend Raj Kushwaha had stayed after the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi.
Raja Raghuvanshi went missing on May 23 while on honeymoon with wife Sonam in Meghalaya, while the latter was missing for several days and was believed to have been abducted.
Raja Raghuvanshi's mutilated body was found in a deep gorge in Sohra area of East Khasi Hills district on June 2.
Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi left for their honeymoon from Madhya Pradesh's Indore to Meghalaya's Shillong on May 20. In June, after an over two-week long search, Sonam Raghuvanshi was found at a 'dhaba' in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur, over 1,200 kilometres away from Meghalaya. She reportedly surrendered before the police.
Raja had married Sonam on May 11. Sonam and Raj Kushwaha were accused of plotting and hiring three hitmen - Akash Rajput, Vishal Singh Chauhan and Anand Kurmi - to murder Raja Raghuvanshi.
Sonam, Raj Kushwaha and three arrested hitmen are now in judicial custody.
A Meghalaya court on July 4 extended the judicial custody of Sonam Raghuvanshi and her alleged boyfriend Raj Kushwaha by another 14 days. On June 21 the court had remanded the two prime accused to 13-day judicial custody which ended on Friday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
21 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Robert Vadra appears before ED in Sanjay Bhandari case
NEW DELHI: Robert Vadra, the businessman husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Monday for his questioning in connection with the UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari linked money laundering case, official sources said. The businessman's statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said. The 56-year-old Vadra was called by the agency to depose last month but he had sought deferment of his summons as he had to travel abroad. He is being investigated by the central probe agency in three different money laundering cases, including this one. The two others pertain to alleged irregularities in land deals. The 63-year-old Bhandari fled to London in 2016 soon after the Income-Tax department raided him in Delhi. He was recently declared a fugitive economic offender by a Delhi court. A UK court last month refused the Indian government's application seeking permission to appeal in Britain's Supreme Court against the discharge of Bhandari in an extradition case against him, virtually ruling out chances of his being brought to the country to face the law. The ED had filed a chargesheet in this case in 2023 alleging Bhandari "acquired" the 12, Bryanston Square house located in London in 2009 and got it renovated "as per the directions of Vadra and the funds for renovation were provided by Robert Vadra." Vadra has denied that he owned any London property directly or indirectly. Terming these charges as a political witch hunt against him, he has said that he was being "hounded and harassed" to subserve political ends.
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Time of India
Jane Street ban: US trading firm deposits Rs 4,843 crore in escrow account; requests SEBI to lift trading restrictions
SEBI levelled serious allegations against Jane Street, stating they orchestrated a calculated scheme to manipulate India's derivatives market. (AI image) Jane Street SEBI ban: US quant trading firm Jane Street has approached the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to lift the trading restrictions after depositing Rs 4,843.58 crore in an escrow account. Following the interim order in the market manipulation case, Sebi confirmed that Jane Street has credited the specified amount to an escrow account, with a lien marked in the regulator's favour, according to an ET report. The firm has submitted a formal request to Sebi, seeking removal of specific conditional restrictions imposed under the interim order, subsequent to establishing the escrow account as per the regulatory requirements. The regulatory authority is presently reviewing the appeal in line with the stipulations outlined in the interim order, the report said. Sebi has affirmed its dedication to maintaining proper procedures and safeguarding the securities market's integrity. What is the Jane Street ban about? SEBI levelled serious allegations against Jane Street, stating they orchestrated a calculated scheme to manipulate India's derivatives market. The regulatory body discovered that the firm accumulated profits of approximately Rs 36,500 crore through systematic market manipulation activities. According to investigations quoted in the report, the organisation implemented a strategy of aggressive purchasing of Nifty Bank component stocks and futures in early trading hours, leading to artificial price inflation. Subsequently, they would liquidate these positions through concentrated selling activities later in the day, triggering price declines. These synchronised transactions were executed to influence the index at crucial intervals to benefit their substantial options holdings. Also Read | Jane Street ban: Why has SEBI barred US-based trading firm, which made multi-thousand crore profit, from India's securities markets? Explained The regulatory investigation revealed that Jane Street maintained "consistently the largest risks in 'cash equivalent' terms in F&O, particularly on index option expiry days." The authority highlighted that "what sets apart the trading pattern of the JS Group as prima facie being manipulative, is the intensity and sheer scale of their intervention in the underlying component stock and futures markets." SEBI's probe revealed substantial figures demonstrating Jane Street's extensive activities in Indian markets. Throughout the investigation period, Jane Street accumulated total earnings of Rs 36,502.12 crore across various market segments. The trading behaviour indicates that Jane Street utilised cash equities, stock futures, and index futures segments to influence market prices, sustaining losses in these areas whilst generating substantial profits through options trading. The revelation has significantly affected Indian markets, impacting capital market infrastructure shares, including BSE and the non-listed NSE. The derivative trading volumes have experienced a considerable reduction of approximately 20% following the SEBI directive. During Thursday's weekly options expiry, traditionally the most active trading session, the turnover decreased by more than 21%, falling to Rs 472.5 lakh crore from Rs 601.2 lakh crore the previous week, the report said. Also Read | Jane Street 'market manipulation' impact? Indian retail traders suffered heavy losses; Rs 1.05 lakh crore wiped out in derivatives trading in FY25 Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
NDTV
30 minutes ago
- NDTV
Robert Vadra Reaches Probe Agency Office, Wife Priyanka Gandhi By His Side
New Delhi: Businessman Robert Vadra, husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and brother-in-law of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, has appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at their Delhi office for questioning in a money laundering probe linked to two London property deals. Ms Gandhi Vadra accompanied her husband to the agency's office this morning. The probe pertains to two properties at 19, Bryanston Square and Grosvenor Hill Court, 13 Bourdon Street in London, owned by UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari. The ED alleges these are benami properties of Mr Vadra, and is now probing his alleged link to Mr Bhandari. Mr Vadra has denied the allegations and claimed he was being "hounded and harassed" by the ED. The Bryanston Square property, which was acquired by Mr Bhandari in 2009, was funded by Mr Vadra and later renovated on his direction, officials have claimed, adding that the businessman stayed at this property on multiple occasions during his London visits. Both properties now feature among a list of land parcels being probed by the ED as alleged "proceeds of crime" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The federal agency that investigates high-profile economic offences had filed the PMLA case in 2016. Mr Vadra had skipped at least two ED summons in this case last month, with sources suggesting the businessman was abroad to attend his daughter's graduation ceremony. The ED is now probing the benami transactions linked to Mr Bhandari, who is wanted in the country on charges of tax evasion and money laundering. A special court in Delhi declared him a fugitive economic offender a week ago in connection with an income tax case involving undisclosed foreign assets. Another key figure in this case is NRI businessman CC Thampi, who allegedly played a significant role in facilitating the property deals through a Dubai-based company. Mr Vadra was earlier questioned by the federal agency in April in another money laundering probe linked to a 2008 land deal in Haryana. The ED probe was over a land that was bought by Mr Vadra's company, Skylight Hospitality, for Rs 7.5 crore and later sold to DLF for Rs 58 crore. The businessman had then called the ED action a "political witch hunt" against him and his family.
