15 years on, four convicted for killing 26-yr-old journalist Soumya Vishwanathan

The court convicted four accused – Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Ajay Kumar and Baljeet Malik in the murder case and the fifth accused – Ajay Sethi – was convicted under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property)

A Delhi court on Wednesday held four men guilty of murdering TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan 15 years ago.

Soumya Vishwanathan, 25, was shot dead in her car at Vasant Vihar’s Nelson Mandela Road on September 30, 2008 (File Photo)

The court convicted four accused – Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Ajay Kumar and Baljeet Malik in the murder case and the fifth accused – Ajay Sethi – was convicted under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property).

All accused were also held guilty under provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Additional sessions judge Ravindra Kumar Pandeyheld that the four had committed the murder with the intention to rob her and thus convicted them under section 302 (murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

The court further observed that Sethi also facilitated the organisation and held property derived from organised crime, thus the court also found him guilty under sections 3(2) and 3(5) of MCOCA.

Vishwanathan, 25, was shot dead in her car at Vasant Vihar’s Nelson Mandela Road on September 30, 2008, in what police claimed was a case of armed robbery.

The court had reserved its judgment in this case, which saw more than 300 hearings, on October 13.

The Delhi police arrested five accused persons in relation to the journalist’s murder in March 2009. All the five accused have been in custody since then.

After the verdict, Soumya’s mother Madhavi Vishwanathan, told HT that, “This decision will act as a deterrent and that we are expecting life imprisonment”. While Soumya’s father remarked that “Justice has been done.”

Special commissioner of police HGS Dhaliwal, who was initially investigating the case and had reached the court, said: “...today is a very big day for us, these accused have already been convicted in the Jigisha Ghosh murder case and we are happy that they have again been convicted in this case”.

In 2009, the police made a breakthrough during the investigation into the murder of BPO employee Jigisha Ghosh, one of the accused confessed to his involvement in the murder of Vishwanathan.

The Delhi police had filed its first charge sheet in the case in June 2009 under section 302 and section 34. The police filed a supplementary charge sheet in October 2009 before the court for an offence under section 3 of MCOCA against Kapoor.

The court had on February 6, 2010, framed charges against the five accused under sections 302 and 34 except for Sethi, who was discharged from the murder case, however, he and the other accused were also charged under section 3 of MCOCA.

Sethi was also charged under section 411 of the IPC for theft of a stolen vehicle in another first information report which was clubbed in this case.

In 2016, Malik, Kapoor and Shukla, were convicted by the trial court in the murder case of Ghosh. In 2018, the court awarded the death penalty to Kapoor and Shukla, while Malik was sent to life imprisonment. The Delhi high court later commuted the death sentence of Kapoor and Shukla to life imprisonment while upholding Malik’s life imprisonment sentence.

In 2019, the Delhi high court ordered to speed up the trial of Vishwanathan’s murder case. The final arguments began before additional sessions judge Pandey on September 1, 2023. The court then reserved its judgment on the case on October 13, 2023, and on Wednesday, the Delhi court found four men guilty in the murder case while the fifth accused was convicted of receiving stolen property.

The court has fixed the date of sentencing on October 26.