Missing Indore tourist's body found in Meghalaya gorge

The body of 29-year-old Raja Raghuvanshi was found in a deep gorge near a waterfall in Sohra area in Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills district on Monday, several days after the tourist from Indore and his wife had gone missing, officials said.

Raja and his wife Sonam disappeared on May 23 hours after they checked out of a homestay at Nongriat village, 20 km from where his body was found, they said.

''A police drone spotted the body in a deep gorge below the Weisawdong waterfall parking lot. The body was taken to the parking lot for a magisterial inquest in the evening,'' a senior district official told PTI.

He said the inquest was carried out in the presence of independent witnesses from the area.

''The relatives of the deceased identified the body as that of Raja Raghuvanshi through a distinctive tattoo on the deceased's right hand which read 'Raja','' he said.

A woman's white shirt, a strip of medicine, a part of the LCD screen of a mobile phone and a smartwatch were also seized at the spot, the official said.

The body was later taken to the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences for post-mortem examination.

East Khasi Hills district Superintendent of Police Vivek Syiem said a case of murder has been registered and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to probe the incident.

Rescuers will continue to look for Raja's wife, Sonam, he said.

Extremely heavy rainfall and low visibility had on May 30 stalled the search and rescue operations, which was launched by the police on May 24.

Sohra area recorded the maximum amount of rainfall in the state on May 29, 30 and 31, recording around 500 mm of rainfall, equalling the annual rainfall record of Mysore, a Met official told PTI.

Movement of traffic was also affected across the eastern Khasi and Jaintia Hills region with many places reporting landslides and flash floods that killed six persons and left over 10 people injured.

The couple, hailing from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, arrived at Mawlakhiat village on May 22 on a rented scooter.

They parked their scooter and trekked 3,000 steps down the gorge to visit the famous living rootbridges at Nongriat village, where they stayed the night and left the homestay the following morning.

On May 24, their scooter was found abandoned at a cafe along the road from Shillong to Sohra following which the police were informed and by Sunday, the initial search operation was planned with the help of the local villagers, police said.

Indore MPs -- Shankar Lalwani and Sumer Singh Solanki -- had held reviews of the rescue operations with Director General of Police I Nongrang and Chief Secretary DP Wahlang, expressing satisfaction over the efforts of the rescue teams.

Earlier this year, a Hungarian tourist -- Puskas Zsolt -- went missing soon after he started his trek to the living rootbridge and he was found dead 12 days later.

While the police have ruled out any foul play in his death, medical reports indicated he died due to a fall.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)