Meghalaya directs hotels, resorts to log tourist details after murder probe
Shillong: More than three weeks after the sensational murder of Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, the Meghalaya government has directed all homestays, resorts and families to mandatorily record details of tourists they host, officials said Wednesday.
A senior official of the Meghalaya Tourism Department said that the state government has directed all the homestays, resorts and even landlords to compulsorily register all their visitors and take their necessary details.
“The government would ensure that all homestays and accommodation units now obligatorily register tourists, visitors and guests through the tourism app, which is already being used by 60 per cent of homestay owners and accommodation units,” the official told IANS.
He said that if the homestay and resort owners do not register the details of tourists and guests, it would be treated as a breach of law, and the onus would fall on the owner of the accommodation unit.
The official said that the state government recently also imposed certain restrictions on the hiring of private vehicles by tourists who wish to drive themselves while visiting the state.
Earlier, the Meghalaya government June 13 decided to strengthen existing laws to ensure the safety of state residents and curb the entry of criminal elements posing as tourists.
Meghalaya Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh had said that the council of ministers in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma June 13 decided to review the Meghalaya Resident Safety and Security Act (MRSSA), 2016, an existing state legislation, to add tougher provisions to the Act to minimise the possibility of criminal elements entering Meghalaya as tourists.
The government’s move comes weeks after the ghastly murder of Raja Raghuvanshi (28), who was brutally killed during his honeymoon while on a trip to Sohra-Cherrapunji areas of the East Khasi Hills district, in a plot allegedly orchestrated by his wife Sonam Raghuvanshi (24) and her alleged lover Raj Singh Kushwaha (21).
Raja Raghuvanshi and Sonam Raghuvanshi went missing May 23 in Sohra, hours after checking out of a homestay at Nongriat village.
Sonam and Raja got married in Indore, Madhya Pradesh May 11 and reached Meghalaya via Guwahati May 20 for their honeymoon, where the young man was killed and his body dumped in a deep gorge.
Meanwhile, Sonam and four other accused — Kushwaha, Anand Singh Kurmi, 23, Akash Rajput, 19, and Vishal Singh Chauhan, 22 would be produced in the District and Sessions Court in Shillong Thursday after eight days of their police custody have over. The police would be seeking further extension of their police custody, an official said.
IANS
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