In the high-profile Raja Raghuvanshi murder case, a local court in Sohra on Friday granted bail to Silome James, one of the co-accused, against a bail bond of ₹50,000. James had been in 14-day judicial custody, and following the end of his remand, his counsel moved a bail application before a local court in Shillong.
James appeared virtually before the court on Wednesday.
Advocate Devesh Sharma, appearing on behalf of James, stated, “Silome James was granted regular bail but certain conditions to support the investigation is there. During investigation there should not be any such things that related to crime or temper the investigation. Regular Bail with Rs 50,000 bail bond. His family also came.”
James, was arrested on serious charges of destroying and concealing key evidence. Earlier, based on his lead, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) recovered a country-made pistol along with two magazines and two live .32 calibre rounds from a stream. The SIT also recovered ₹50,000 in cash from James’ Hyundai i10 car (MP09WG 2352), which he took out from laptop bag of Raj.
The laptop bag was found burnt, and while the laptop is claimed to be thrown by the road side, it could not be traced.
Insisting that his client had no connection to the crime, Sharma asserted, “I am sure in no way my client is involved in the case.” He further added, “Allegations can be put on anyone, the case is yet to be chargesheeted. Investigation is going on.”
When asked about the accusation of evidence tampering, Sharma said, “These will come up during the trial.” He clarified, “He was not connected by Sonam and four other key accused.”
Describing the procedural complexity of the case, Sharma explained, “The case is being heated Shillong as well as in Sohra so quite a few hosposh is there in this case, investigation officer is from Sohra. Sohra grant the bail.”
Two other co-accused in the same case — Balbir Ahirbar alias Ballu and Lokendra Singh Tomar — had earlier been granted bail as the investigation into the chilling murder continues to unfold.
