The couple went missing on May 23
The body of a Madhya Pradesh man, who was on a honeymoon in Meghalaya, was found after 11 days on Monday, with the police suspecting he was murdered with a machete. The victim, Raja Raghuvanshi, and his wife, Sonam, both from Indore, went missing on May 23. The search for the woman is underway.
An audio clip has now gone viral of the purported conversation between Sonam and her mother-in-law, reportedly hours before they went missing.
The couple, who arrived at Mawlakhiat village on a rented scooter, had trekked 3,000 steps down the gorge to visit the famous living rootbridges at Nongriat village.
In the audio clip, the mother-in-law can be heard asking her, “How are you, daughter?”.
“I was preparing food, and I remembered that today is your fast. You have fasted, right?” she asked her.
Sonam, in response, can be heard saying, “Yes. I clearly told them that I will not break my fast because of travelling.”
The mother-in-law then told her to have some food, to which Sonam, who said she was trekking at that time, “won't get anything in the jungle”.
“You are panting,” the mother-in-law then told Sonam as she was trying to catch her breath during the two-minute call.
“It was a tough trek,” Sonam purportedly said. “I'll call you after climbing,” she added.
NDTV cannot confirm the authenticity of the audio clip.
According to police, the couple arrived in Mawlakhiat village on May 22 and then went to Nongriat, where they stayed the night.
They left the homestay the following morning, and on May 24, their scooter was found outside a cafe along the road from Shillong to Sohra, also known as Cherrapunji.
The body of 29-year-old Raja Raghuvanshi was recovered in a gorge some 20 kilometres from the Nongriat village. His brother identified his body through a tattoo on his right hand that read 'Raja'.
Police said that a woman's white shirt, a strip of medicine, a part of the LCD screen of a mobile phone and a smartwatch were also seized at the spot.
