Honeymoon Murder 2.0: Rajasthan Woman Orchestrates Husband’s Murder With Lover's Help, Tries To Pass Off Crime As Accident; Arrested

New Delhi: A normal evening walk for newlyweds Ashish and Anju from Rajasthan quickly evolved into a chilling criminal investigation after a vehicle struck the couple, where the man was killed instantly, while his semi-conscious wife was stripped of her gold jewellery and abandoned.

Initially reported as a hit-and-run, the case took a dramatic turn that echoed the infamous "honeymoon murder" of Meghalaya. Investigating officers were struck by the similarities to the Sonam Raghuvanshi case, in which a bride orchestrated the assassination of her husband, Raja, during their post-wedding trip.

A calculated setup

The cops have now confirmed that the tragedy was a calculated setup. The investigation revealed that Anju orchestrated Ashish's death with the help of her boyfriend, Sanju, and two accomplices, attempting to disguise the murder as a random accident. 

Due to the cold-blooded nature of the plot, the case has officially been dubbed “Rajasthan’s Honeymoon Murder.”

Sri Ganganagar Superintendent of Police, Amrita Duhan, stated that the department was first alerted to the incident at approximately 9:00 PM on the night of January 30. Initial reports received by the police indicated only that a man and woman were lying unconscious on the road, with no immediate indication of the crime that had actually transpired, as per news reports.

Upon arrival at the Community Health Center (CHC), medical staff examined the couple and officially pronounced Ashish dead.

Hit-and-run narrative

The 23-year-old Anju initially informed cops that she and Ashish were simply out for a stroll when they were struck by an unknown vehicle. To bolster the hit-and-run narrative, she further claimed that the assailants had robbed her of her gold jewelry while she was incapacitated.

Cops, however, quickly became skeptical of Anju's story after noticing glaring inconsistencies between her testimony and the physical evidence at the scene.

The medical report served as a turning point, revealing that Ashish’s body bore signs of strangulation in addition to impact injuries. 

In contrast, Anju, who claimed to have been hit by the same vehicle, emerged completely unscathed. Furthermore, police sources confirmed that Anju’s phone records placed her in constant communication with Sanju, a man residing near her home, directly linking her to a potential co-conspirator.

Unhappy in the marriage

Though the couple had been married for only three months, the union was fractured from the start. Anju, reportedly unhappy in the marriage, had returned to her hometown shortly after the wedding. It was during this period that she rekindled her relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Sanju, and together they allegedly masterminded the plot to eliminate Ashish.

To execute the plan, Anju established a new routine where she began joining Ashish for his regular post-dinner walks. On the night of January 30, she led him down a secluded road where Sanju and two accomplices, Rocky (Rohit) and Badal (Siddharth), were lying in wait, hidden in the bushes.

SP Duhan further clarified the brutality of the crime, noting that the suspects did not just rely on a staged collision, they physically assaulted and strangled Ashish before attempting to frame the scene as a traffic fatality.

How did they sell the lie

To sell the lie, Anju handed over her phone and earrings to her accomplices, creating the illusion of a robbery. She then lay on the road, feigning unconsciousness. However, the plan fell apart when investigators noticed that Ashish’s injurie, specifically the signs of manual strangulation, did not match a typical hit-and-run.

Suspicion deepened as Anju’s narrative crumbled under questioning; she repeatedly altered her story and provided contradictory accounts of the evening's events. Ultimately, the investigation led to the arrest of all four individuals involved.

Similarities With Meghalaya's Honeymoon Murder

The parallels between the Rajasthan case and the notorious "Honeymoon Murder" of Meghalaya are striking, as both involve a bride transforming a celebration of marriage into a calculated death trap.

In the Meghalaya case, Sonam Raghuvanshi orchestrated the murder of her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, while they were on their honeymoon. Much like Anju, Sonam used the intimacy and trust of a new marriage to lure her husband into a vulnerable position.

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