Shillong, June 26 (UNI) A lower court here in Meghalaya today granted six days' police custody of the three other accused persons connected with the murder of an Indore-based businessman Raja Raghuvanshi in Sohra last month.

The trio - Lokendra Tomar, Silome James and Balla Ahirwar - were arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Meghalaya Police from Madhya Pradesh on charges of aiding the prime murder accused Sonam Raghuvanshi, widow of Raja, and her paramour Raj Singh Kushwaha and destruction of crucial evidence in connection with the murder case.

All the three accused persons, brought here on a transit remand from Madhya Pradesh, were produced before the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, East Khasi Hills district, Don Kitbor Koshy Mihsil.

"Three accused were produced before the Court. After hearing both the parties, the court remanded them to six days police custody,” Assistant Public Prosecutor Tushar Chanda told reporters.

Meghalaya police had sought eight days of police custody.



Sonam and one other accused leased the flat from James in Indore after the murder of Raja in Wei Sawdong parking lot on May 23.

James, a property dealer, leased out the flat to Sonam. Ahirwar, the security guard-cum-carpenter of the flat, and the owner of the flat, Tomar, were arrested recently after evading arrest.

The trio burned a bag that contained some unknown items, which is being analyzed forensically. They also discarded a pistol and moved out a laptop and cash from the bag.

The country-made pistol was recovered from a stream and cash of Rs. 50,000 was found from a car (MP09WG 2352) with the help of James. However, the laptop and some jewellery are yet to be found.

Altogether, eight persons have been arrested in connection with the Raja murder case.

Currently, Sonam and her paramour are in 13 days' judicial custody, while three aides Vishal Singh Chauhan, Anand Kurmi and Akash Rajput, who carried out the murder, were remanded to 14 days judicial custody by a local court.



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