Guwahati: The Supreme Court has fixed 21st July for hearing the Meghalaya government's plea challenging the bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, who is accused of murdering her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, during their honeymoon in Meghalaya 2025.
A Bench comprising Justices M M Sundresh and P B Varale scheduled the hearing after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Meghalaya government, sought an early listing of the matter. Counsel representing the accused requested that the case be taken up next week, following which the Bench fixed 21st July as the hearing date.
Sonam Raghuvanshi, a resident of Indore in Madhya Pradesh, was arrested in June 2025 after police alleged that she conspired with hired assailants to murder her husband, businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, for financial gain.
The couple had gone missing while holidaying in Sohra on23rd May, 2025. Raja's body was later recovered from a deep gorge on June 2, leading to a high-profile murder investigation.
During an earlier hearing on 9th July , the apex court observed that it may refer to a larger Bench the legal issue of whether a typographical error in an arrest memo, specifically the citation of an incorrect statutory provision, is sufficient to invalidate an arrest and justify the grant of bail.
The court also said it would examine whether the Meghalaya High Court was justified in upholding Sonam Raghuvanshi's bail on that basis.
On 3rd July , the Supreme Court declined to stay the High Court's order granting bail to the accused.
The Meghalaya High Court had upheld a trial court order dated 27th April, observing that the police had failed to provide proper written grounds of arrest. It noted that the arrest memo reflected a "total non-application of judicial mind" as it cited Section 403 instead of Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with the offence of murder.
The Meghalaya government has maintained that the incorrect provision was merely a clerical error and argued that such a mistake should not invalidate the arrest or entitle an accused in a murder case to bail.