BHOPAL: Ongoing investigations into the Meghalaya honeymoon killing of Indore man Raja Raghuvanshi have brought to the fore the strong possibility that it may have been funded by money from a benami account.“The three henchmen who executed the killing were all friends of the murder mastermind Raj Kushwaha. Not much money had been handed over to them. Raj had given them about Rs 50,000 for their expenditure out here (in Guwahati and Meghalaya). It has not yet come out whether any big consideration was there, given the fact that Raj doesn’t come from a very affluent background. We’ll see whether there is any financial or property angle,” Meghalaya East Khasi Hills district police superintendent Vivek Siyam had told journalists in Meghalaya on Thursday evening.According to a source who was part of the joint Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya police operation which led to the arrest of four men, including Raj Kushwaha and his three friends from MP and UP on June 8-9, “The money which was paid to the three henchmen, before they left for the North East from Indore on May 17 or May 18, was possibly sourced from an account held by Sonam Raghuvanshi’s cousin Jitendra Raghuvanshi, but being operated by her.”This raises the question as to whether the money came from a hawala channel. Sources in the police in the recent past had raised the possibility of Raj having possible links with players in the hawala business. The analysis of Raj’s phone after his arrest on June 8 had revealed pictures of old Rs 10 notes, which raised the possibility of his association with the hawala business, particularly as such old notes are often used as proof for collecting money through such channels.According to sources privy to the investigations, it was not just one account opened in the name of Jitendra Raghuvanshi that was being used by Sonam. As many as four accounts including three savings and one current account were opened in Jitendra’s name, but used for transactions by Sonam and others.While denying any hawala links to their business, Sonam’s brother Govind Raghuvanshi had recently told journalists in Indore, “Jitendra is a lower rung employee in our godown and also our cousin. The accounts are in his name, but the money which comes in the accounts is ours and is used to meet daily business expenditures.”Jitendra Raghuvanshi hails from adjoining Dewas district and has been working with his cousins for more than a year. His mother Rama Bai, who lives in a two-room house in Dewas district, had recently told some journalists that he has not come home for the last six months and lives on rent in Indore. She had also claimed that bank accounts in Jitendra’s name had been opened by Sonam and her family members.
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