SHILLONG : Meghalaya Police on Monday described the bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, one of the main accused in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case, as a setback to the investigation but insisted it would not affect the prosecution of the case.
East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police Vivek Syiem said the bail resulted from a typographical error in the arrest memo prepared in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, where officials mistakenly mentioned Section 403 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) instead of Section 103, which relates to murder. According to Syiem, several Meghalaya Police teams had travelled across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to arrest the accused, and the mistake occurred while preparing three arrest-related documents during the operation.
Despite the development, the SP said the accused is complying with all conditions imposed by the court and appearing before the authorities whenever required.
Calling the bail order a setback, Syiem stressed that the prosecution remains confident about the strength of the case.
“The trial will go on. This is a setback to the investigation, but we have not lost the war,” he said. He also confirmed that all relevant documents have already been forwarded to Advocate General Amit Kumar for further legal proceedings.
The matter has now reached the Supreme Court, which observed that the Meghalaya government’s challenge to the bail order may require consideration by a larger Bench because of differing judicial views on whether an accused must be informed of the grounds of arrest in writing.
The Bench noted that merely mentioning the legal provisions in an arrest memo may not be sufficient to satisfy the constitutional requirement of informing an accused about the reasons for arrest.
