An official informed that a raincoat, believed to belong to the couple, was also recovered a few kilometres away from the gorge where the victim's body was found on Monday. Police are hopeful that the raincoat recovered by them could provide more leads into the investigation
The victim's family has called for a CBI inquiry into the case. Representational pic
Police have recovered a bloodstained machete, which they believe has been used in the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi – a tourist from Madhya Pradesh who went missing along with his wife in Meghalaya – an official said on Wednesday.
The official also informed that a raincoat, believed to belong to the couple, was recovered from Mawkma village, a few kilometres away from the gorge where Raghuvanshi’s body was found on Monday.
"We have recovered a bloodstained weapon, a relatively unused machete (dao), during the search of the area yesterday. The search and rescue teams have also recovered a raincoat from Mawkma today," Vivek Syiem, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of East Khasi Hills, told PTI.
Mawkma is located between the spot where Raja's decomposed body was found and Sohrarim, where the scooter used by the couple was found abandoned.
Police are hopeful that the raincoat recovered by them could provide more leads into the investigation.
Meanwhile, the search for Raghuvanshi’s wife Sonam continues with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) leading the efforts, officials said.
The search teams have deployed drones, sniffer dogs, and mountaineers.
The couple, who were on their honeymoon, arrived in Mawlakhiat village on May 22 on a rented scooter, reported PTI. They trekked over 3,000 steps down the gorge to visit the famous living root bridges in Nongriat village, where they stayed the night, the police stated. The following morning, the duo left the homestay.
On May 24, their scooter was found abandoned outside a cafe along the road from Shillong to Sohra.
"Raja's family identified the body with the help of a distinctive tattoo on his right hand, reading 'Raja and a lady'. A white shirt, a strip of tablets, part of a smartphone's screen, and a smartwatch were seized at the spot," the SP said.
Raja's brother, V Raguvanshi, told PTI, "Since my brother's gold rings, a gold chain and his wallet are missing, we suspect it is a murder. We urge the authorities to let the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) conduct an inquiry into this."
The body’s post-mortem examination was being conducted at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences near Shillong.
Syiem said that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) – headed by an SP-level officer and assisted by four Deputy SP-rank officers – is probing the murder case.
Sohra, also known as Cherrapunji, has been receiving heavy rainfall, which affected the search and rescue operations, he said.
The area recorded 500 mm of rain between May 29 and 31, which is equivalent to Mysore's annual rainfall, a weather department official said.
Earlier this year, a Hungarian tourist had gone missing soon after he started trekking to the living roots bridge. The body of Puskas Zsolt was found dead 12 days later. Medical reports indicated that he died due to a fall.
(With PTI inputs)
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