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A tourist guide on Saturday claimed that the honeymoon couple from Indore, Raja Raghuvanshi and his wife Sonam, was accompanied by three men on the day they went missing from Meghalaya’s Sohra area.

An official confirmed that the guide had provided this information to the police.

While the couple went missing on May 23, Raja’s body was found in a gorge on June 2 while a search for his wife was underway.

Speaking to PTI, Albert Pde, a guide at Mawlakhiat, said he had seen the couple accompanied by three male tourists as they were climbing over 3,000 steps from Nongriat to Mawlakhiat around 10 am on May 23.

He said he recognised the couple as he had offered his services to them on the previous day to climb down to Nongriat but they had politely refused and hired another guide.

“The four men were walking ahead while the woman was behind. The four men were conversing in Hindi but I could not understand what they were speaking as I know only Khasi and English,” Pde said.

He said that he had offered his services to take them to Nongriat on May 22 but they had hired another guide, named Bha Wansai, and spent the night at Shipara homestay and returned the next day without a guide.

“By the time I reached Mawlakhiat, their scooter was not there,” the guide claimed.

He has also given his statement to the police.

The newlywed’s rented scooter was found at Sohrarim, several kilometres from the parking lot at Mawlakhiat with the keys latched to it.

The family of an Indore-based woman who went missing in Meghalaya last month while honeymooning with her husband urged the Union government on Friday to hand over the case to the CBI after expressing dissatisfaction with the probe of the north eastern state’s police.

Sonam Raghuvanshi (25) and her husband Raja Raghuvanshi (29) disappeared on May 23, hours after they checked out of a homestay at Nongriat village in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district. Raja’s body was found in a deep gorge near a waterfall in Sohra area, some 20 kilometres away from the homestay, on June 2.

Meghalaya police, which registered a murder case after Raja’s body was found, are yet to get clues about Sonam’s whereabouts.

“My daughter has been abducted and is still in the clutches of her captors. Meghalaya police is not investigating the matter properly. They have been negligent right from the beginning. I have been seeking the deployment of the army since the day they went missing. If it was done in time, they would have been found safely,” Sonam’s father, Devi Singh Raghuvanshi, told PTI.

He said the Centre must hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

With desperation setting in, Raghuvanshi said he had hung an inverted photograph of Sonam on the advice of an astrologer so that she can be found safely.

After their marriage here on May 11, the couple left for Meghalaya on May 20 for their honeymoon, family said.

The couple arrived at Mawlakhiat village on May 22 on a rented scooter. They parked their scooter and trekked 3,000 steps down the gorge to visit the famous living rootbridges at Nongriat village, where they stayed the night and left the homestay the following morning.

The India Meteorological Department has issued red alerts for Idukki, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts and orange alerts for the remaining districts.

Heavy rain lashed many districts of Kerala on Friday, disrupting normal life and causing waterlogging.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued red alerts for Idukki, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts and orange alerts for the remaining districts today.

Authorities in several districts have declared holidays for educational institutions under their jurisdiction.

As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), strong westerly winds are likely to persist at lower tropospheric levels over Kerala and the Lakshadweep region for the next two to three days, resulting in widespread rainfall.

The IMD stated, “Strong westerlies likely to continue at lower tropospheric levels over Kerala and the Lakshadweep region during the next 2-3 days. Under the influence of these, widespread rainfall activity with scattered Heavy rainfall to Very Heavy rainfall with isolated Extremely Heavy rainfall is very likely to occur over Kerala on 29th & 30th May 2025. Heavy rainfall is very likely to occur at isolated places over Kerala on 31st May, 1st and 2nd June 2025.”

District administrations across Kerala have declared a holiday for all educational institutions in several districts on May 30 (Friday).

The precautionary measure applies to professional colleges, anganwadis, tuition centers, madrassas, and special coaching classes.

Kannur District Collector announced a holiday for all educational institutions, including anganwadis, madrassas, tuition centers, and special classes. The district declared a similar holiday on the previous day due to intense rainfall.

According to the police, the victim had been living with her two daughters in a rented house in a village after separating from her husband.

A 34-year-old woman was hacked to death and her teenage daughter seriously injured in an attack in this hill district, police said here on Monday.

Another daughter of Praveena was also missing after the attack, they added.

The incident occurred at their residence under the Tirunelli police station limits in the late evening on Sunday, they said.

According to the police, the victim, Praveena, had been living with her two daughters in a rented house in a village after separating from her husband.

Police believe the attack was carried out by her male friend. Praveena’s 14-year-old daughter sustained deep wounds to her neck and ear. She is currently being treated at a government hospital, they said.

Her nine-year-old daughter is missing, along with the suspect.

A police team is investigating the case.

Search efforts are ongoing for the missing girl, but strong winds and heavy rain are hampering the operation, they added.

Police booked a man on Saturday after disturbing visuals of him “brutally assaulting” his eight-year-old daughter went viral on social media recently.

In the footage, the man could be seen beating the child and trying to slam her head against the wall as she cries in fear.

As the issued triggered widespread outrage on social media platforms, Health, Women and Child Development Minister Veena George and General Education Minister V Sivankutty came out strongly condemning the act and assured stringent leagal measures against the accused.

Following circulation of the video, the police launched a probe and identified the man as Jose alias Mamachan, living in a rented house in Cherupuzha of this district.

A senior police official said he was summoned to the local station in the morning.

His estranged wife and two children were also called to the station to record their statements, K Vinod Kumar, Deputy SP, Payyannur said.

“As soon as the video came to our notice yesterday, we contacted the man and the children. But, they claimed that it was a prank video,” he told a TV channel.

They claimed that it was picturised to bring back their mother who was staying separated from them.

“But, prima facie, we don’t think it is a prank video. Even if it is a prank video as claimed by them, a video showing brutality to children cannot be taken like this,” he said.

Responding to the criticism about police inaction, Kumar said the children were shifted to their paternal aunt’s house with their consent on Friday itself.

The officer further said legal action would be taken in connection with the incident and a case would be registered after recording the statements of the man, his wife and the children.

Later in the day, Cherupuzha police said a case has been registered against him and he was being interrogated.

“He still claims that it was a prank video. A detailed statement of the children should also be taken and procedures for it are are going on,” a police officer belonging to the station said.

The man was booked under Section 75 of Juvenile Justice Act (cruelty to children) and various sections of the BNS including Section 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), he said.

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