Kanpur, 19 June

The elderly grandmother of Raj Kushwaha, who is the prime accused in Raja Raghuvanshi's murder, died due to a heart attack on Wednesday, said the aggrieved family.

Raj's grandmother, Ram Lalli, 74, died at her house in the Rampur village, Gazipur in Fatehpur district, they said.

Her husband, Darbari Singh, told the reporters that Ram Lalli had been defending her grandson Raj since his name surfaced in Raja Raghuvanshi's murder as the key accused, claiming that he was innocent and was being framed in the Meghalaya murder case.

Talking to the media, Singh said that Raj was falsely implicated due to which his grandmother was upset.

About a week ago, Ram Lalli had come before the media and defended her grandson. "Raj never had an affair with anyone. Sonam got her husband killed and is dragging Raj into this", Ram Lalli had said.

She alleged that powerful people were involved in the case and "they can do anything".

Singh said that Raj was a soft-spoken, dutiful man shouldering the responsibilities of his family since his father died during the Covid pandemic. Due to the financial crisis, Raj's father moved to Indore about 15 years ago and started a business of fruits.

After the family's condition improved, Raj too moved to Indore with his mother and two sisters about a decade ago.

Police officials have refused to comment on the issue saying the case is of another state.

Being a class 12 pass-out, Raj worked as an accountant at the furniture sheet unit owned by Sonam's family, a resident of the Govind Nagar Kharcha area in Indore.

Raghuvanshi married Sonam on 11 May, and the couple left for Meghalaya on 20 May. Three days later, he went missing, and his mutilated body was found in a gorge near a waterfall in the Sohra area of East Khasi Hills district on 2 June.

Sonam surrendered before the police in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur district on 8 June, while Kushwaha and others were arrested from different parts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

According to police, Sonam Raghuvanshi allegedly orchestrated the murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi during their honeymoon.