A team of the Meghalaya Police on Tuesday took four accused in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case on transit remand from a court in Indore and departed with them to Meghalaya for further interrogation and investigation.

The team escorted the accused to Indore airport, from where they boarded a flight to New Delhi. They are scheduled to travel to Guwahati by a connecting flight and then proceed to Shillong with the accused.

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An incident occurred outside the Indore airport when a man attempted to assault the accused. He managed to slap one of the accused, but the police swiftly intervened and escorted all four safely inside the airport.

The assailant, identified as Sushil Lakwani, later told the media that he was outraged by the brutal murder of a fellow Indore resident, which prompted his action. He also demanded strict punishment for the guilty.

Earlier on Tuesday, the police produced Anand Kurmi, the fourth accused arrested from Basahari village in Bina, before a court in Indore. The court approved his transit custody until 16 June and handed him over to the Meghalaya Police.

On Monday evening, three other accused — Raj Kushwaha, Vishal Chauhan, and Akash Rajput — were presented before Chief Judicial Magistrate Shashank Singh in Indore, who granted a 7-day transit remand.

Indore Crime Branch DCP Rajesh Dandotia confirmed that the Meghalaya Police were taking all four accused on the basis of the transit custody order.

On Tuesday morning, a team from the Meghalaya Police, with assistance from the Madhya Pradesh Police, visited Vishal Chauhan’s residence in the Nandbagh area of Indore. Finding the house locked and no key available, police scaled the gate to enter and conduct a search.

ACP Poonam Chand Yadav of the Indore Crime Branch said the search was part of the ongoing investigation into Raja Raghuvanshi’s murder.

Sources confirmed that police recovered a pair of jeans and a shirt, allegedly worn by Vishal during the murder. The clothes will be sent for forensic analysis.

According to sources, the accused frequently met at a ground in Scheme No. 155 in Indore and were using new mobile phones and SIM cards to avoid detection.

Reports suggest that Sonam, the victim’s wife, traveled to Indore from Shillong via Siliguri by train on May 25, shortly after her husband’s murder. She allegedly stayed at a rented room with her suspected lover Raj Kushwaha and later traveled to Ghazipur via Varanasi.

However, Indore police stated that they have not yet found any evidence confirming Sonam’s presence in Indore after the murder. According to ACP Yadav, no conclusive information has surfaced so far.

Raja Raghuvanshi and Sonam, both residents of Indore, were married on May 11 and left for their honeymoon in Shillong on May 20. The couple went missing on May 23, and Raja’s body was recovered on June 2 from a deep gorge near a waterfall in the Sohra (Cherrapunji) area.

Following this, the Meghalaya Police registered a case of murder and launched a full-scale investigation. Sonam was found in the early hours of June 9 at a dhaba in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, where she was initially detained and then arrested on suspicion of being the mastermind behind her husband’s murder.

Subsequently, four more accused, including three suspected hired killers, were arrested from Indore and Bina in Madhya Pradesh, while another suspect was apprehended in Uttar Pradesh.