NEW DELHI: It began as a love story — a young woman engaged to a software engineer in Bengaluru in 2003. Four days after the engagement, the fiancé was bludgeoned to death on a quiet stretch near HAL Airport. Two decades later, in 2025, in the misty valleys of Meghalaya, a newlywed from Indore was hacked to death and dumped in a gorge by contract killers hired by his wife — the woman he had married just days earlier.Two murders. Separated by 21 years. But bound by chilling parallels — betrayal in love, the manipulation of trust, and an orchestrated kill in a desolate location.As investigators dig deeper into the murder of 29-year-old Raja Raghuvanshi in Sohra (Cherrapunji), Meghalaya, the case has brought back sharp memories of the infamous 2003 ‘Ring Road Murder’ in Bengaluru, where 27-year-old Girish was killed in cold blood by his fiancée Shubha Shankaranarayan. Then a final-year law student, Shubha plotted the murder with her lover and college junior, Arun Verma, days after getting engaged to Girish against her will.
The 2003 ‘Ring Road Murder’ that shocked Bengaluru
Girish, a software engineer with Intel, got engaged to Shubha, 21, on November 30, 2003. The families, neighbours in Banashankari II Stage, had known each other for over a decade. On the night of December 3, under the guise of a dinner outing, Shubha led Girish to a dark stretch near the HAL Airport, claiming she wanted to watch planes take off. Moments later, a hired killer struck from behind with a blunt weapon while Girish watched an aircraft.Shubha rushed Girish to Manipal Hospital, where he died. She claimed an unknown assailant had attacked him, but call records revealed dozens of calls to Arun Verma — her boyfriend.Bengaluru Police soon arrested four people: Shubha, Arun, and two others — Venkatesh and Dinakar — all found guilty of conspiracy and murder. A sessions court sentenced them to life in 2010. The Karnataka High Court upheld the verdict, saying the behaviour of the accused was “compatible with guilt and incompatible with innocence.”Shubha, in 2014, was granted bail by the Supreme Court years later after having spent over four years in prison, while her co-accused were also released on bail. Her case even inspired a Kannada film, Ring Road Shubha, with an all-woman crew.
2025: Another love story, another murder
Fast forward to May 2025 — Raja Raghuvanshi and Sonam, married just nine days earlier, arrived in Meghalaya for their honeymoon. On May 22, they were last seen checking out of a Shillong guesthouse, heading towards Sohra. A day later, they vanished. Raja’s rented scooter was found abandoned. On June 2, his decomposed body was recovered from a gorge near Weisawdong Falls. A freshly bought dao (machete), raincoat, phone parts, and blood-stained clothing were found nearby.Police confirmed it was a planned killing. The shock only deepened when Sonam, initially believed to be missing, surrendered at a UP police station on June 8. Far from being a victim, she was named the mastermind. According to Meghalaya Police, she conspired with her lover Raj Kushwaha — an accountant in her father’s firm — and hired three others to carry out the murder.Posters at Raja’s funeral in Indore read: “I did not die… I was killed.” His family, devastated and demanding a CBI probe, said the location where the body was found was so remote that only someone familiar with the terrain could reach it.
Striking similarities
Both murders were committed by individuals who had pledged love but were secretly aligned with another partner. Both cases involved carefully planned attacks in secluded areas — one by an airport runway, the other deep in a forested gorge. In both, the victim was lured to the location under a false pretext.The Shubha-Girish case became one of the most sensational murder trials in Karnataka. With Raja’s murder now unravelling by the day, public memory has turned to that haunting December night in 2003.Different names, different timelines. But the playbook of betrayal hasn’t changed.
