We’re relieved: Soumya’s father

Call it a father’s instinct. MK Vishwanathan (67) said on Sunday night he dreamt of the police nabbing his daughter Soumya’s killers, reports Naziya Alvi.

Call it a father’s instinct. MK Vishwanathan (67) said on Sunday night he dreamt of the police nabbing his daughter Soumya’s killers.

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“I was restless since Saturday as I heard about Jigeesha's murder case. It immediately reminded me of my daughter,” said Vishwanathan, who lost his daughter Soumya, a 26-year-old television journalist, six months ago.

On September 30, 2008, Soumya Viswanathan was found dead in her white Maruti Zen car with a bullet in her head. She was returning home after a late night shift around 3.40 a.m. Her body was found in her car about half-a-kilometre from the Vasant Kunj police station on Nelson Mandela Marg.

On Tuesday afternoon, as the Delhi police announced to have cracked the case, reporters and cameramen of various news channels thronged Vishwanathan’s Vasant Kunj home. His wife Madhavi was at work.

“I am extremely happy with the way Delhi police followed the case. I have no complaints against CM Sheila Dikshit too. Everyone was helpful and nice to us,” said Vishwanathan who refused to link his daughter’s murder with Delhi being unsafe for women.

“It could have happened to a man as well,” added Vishwanathan as he sat in Soumya’s intact room. From her favourite kajal pencil to her junk jewellery, everything lay untouched at her dressing table.

“These are her memories for us. We feel Soumya’s presence around,” added a close friend who still at times leaves scraps in her Facebook account.

The family has also preserved a bouquet sent by a close friend on her birthday on December 8, 2008, three months after she was killed.

“As Soumya re-appeared in papers on Sunday morning. one of my neighbour’s came rushing to say she has come again to wish you birthday,” Vishwnathan added.