New twist in Indore couple case: Tourist guide spots them with strangers in Meghalaya

Mawlakhiat, June 7: A new eyewitness account has introduced a significant development in the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of a tourist couple from Indore.

Albert Pde, a local guide from Mawlakhiat village—the main access point to the Double Decker Root Bridge in Nongriat—revealed that he saw Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi accompanied by three unidentified men shortly before Raja was found murdered and Sonam went missing.

Pde recalled seeing the couple around 10 am on May 23 as they were making their way up to the Mawlakhiat parking lot.

“Raja was chatting casually with three tourists in Hindi while Sonam walked a few steps behind,” he said. Due to the language barrier, Pde, who is more comfortable in Khasi and English, could not make out the conversation.

Initially hesitant to speak, Pde opened up only after other villagers urged transparency. He confirmed that he had already provided a statement to the police earlier.

He also mentioned that he had offered his guide services to the couple on May 22, but they had politely declined. The couple had arrived that day on a rented two-wheeler from Shillong.

The Raghuvanshis had reportedly stayed the night at Shipara Homestay in Nongriat, guided there by Bha Wansai, a local who was only hired to drop them off. Wansai, too, shared his concern.

“They declined my services beyond the drop. I didn't see them leave the village the next morning, but I later noticed their scooty was gone,” he told the local press.

The chain of events took a grim turn when Raja’s decomposed body was found in a gorge near Weisawdong Falls on June 2. A machete, presumed to be the murder weapon, was discovered nearby.

The police have now confirmed that the incident is being investigated as a homicide. Sonam, however, remains missing, and her family fears she may have been abducted and possibly taken across the Bangladesh border.

Villagers, meanwhile, are battling growing anxiety about the negative image this incident has cast over the region. “We are god-fearing people and have never seen such crime before,” said Pde. The community is particularly concerned over the revelation that the murder weapon was a new machete, never used for routine woodcutting.

Wansai added that tourism in Sohra and surrounding areas has taken a hit, and the village has become the subject of damaging social media commentary. “We treat tourists like our own, return lost belongings, but this incident is being used to tarnish our name,” he lamented.

A visit to the Mawlakhiat parking lot revealed serious administrative lapses. The visitor logbook was poorly maintained, lacking names or vehicle numbers, making it difficult for police or villagers to track movements. Efforts to trace the rented scooty only succeeded when it was found abandoned in Sohrarim and later linked to the couple via an e-challan.

Despite the rising concerns, officials face infrastructural challenges. Poor roads and inconsistent power supply have made it impractical to install CCTV cameras, a sorely needed measure given the popularity of the area among domestic and international tourists.

As the police continue their investigation, including checking for any link to human trafficking or cross-border movement, the mystery of Sonam’s disappearance remains unsolved.

The Meghalaya Police have yet to release any new information on potential suspects or the identity of the three men last seen with the couple.

(With inputs from news agencies)