Delhi Court Convicts Five In 2008 Journalist Soumya Vishwanathan Murder Case

A Delhi Court on Wednesday convicted five men in the murder case of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan, more than 15 years after she was killed in 2008.

Additional Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Pandey of Saket Court observed that the prosecution had proved its case beyond any reasonable doubts.

The court had reserved the judgment in the case on October 13.

Four accused persons have been held guilty for the offences under Section 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code, 1860.

The fifth accused has been convicted for the offence under Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of IPC.

All five accused have been convicted under relevant provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

The five men are Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, Ajay Kumar and Ajay Sethi. They have been in custody since March 2009.

Vishwanathan was shot dead on September 30, 2008, while she was returning to her home from work in her car late in the night.

The Delhi Police claimed that the motive behind her murder was robbery. As per the Police, the journalist’s murder case was cracked after the recovery of the weapon used in IT executive Jigisha Ghosh’s killing.

The trial court had awarded death penalty to Kapoor and Shukla and sentenced Malik to a life imprisonment in Jigisha Ghosh murder case in August 2016.

However, in 2018, the Delhi High Court had commuted the death sentence awarded to Kapoor and Shukla to life imprisonment. Malik’s life imprisonment was also upheld by the High Court.