Soumya Vishwanathan murder case: The story so far

The Supreme Court on April 22 filed a petition by Madhavi Vishwanathan, mother of slain television journalist Soumya Vishwanathan, against the bail granted to four men convicted in the case. In February, the Delhi High Court granted bail to convicts – Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik and Ajay Kumar, while their appeal against their conviction and sentence in the case was pending. The first three were also convicted in the 2009 Jigisha Ghosh murder case and are still in jail.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal were initially reluctant to issue a notice and instead asked Ms Vishwanathan’s mother Madhavi to approach the Supreme Court with a plea to hear and decide the appeals expeditiously. Judge Trivedi orally noted that the four men had served more than 14 years of their sentences.

However, lawyer Malini Poduval, who appeared on behalf of the grieving mother, tried to convince the Bench by pointing out that the convicts would once again become a menace to society if released on bail. Ultimately, the court granted the injunction and submitted the case for hearing after four weeks.

In light of this development, here is a look back at the important events in the case.

Timeline of events

The murder case

Soumya Vishwanathan, a 25-year-old journalist at India today – was found murdered on Vasant Vihar’s Nelson Mandela Road in what police believe was a case of armed robbery in the early hours of September 30, 2008. According to court records, the local police station received a call about the murder at around 3.55am. belong to a passerby. Consequently, a team from the police control room reached the spot and found a damaged Maruti Zen car near the median of the road. There were skid marks indicating the vehicle dragged for some distance before slamming into the median and coming to a stop. The headlights were on and the right front tire was blown.

On the same day, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered in which unknown persons were booked for the offense of murder (section 302 of the IPC). However, the breakthrough in the case came only a year later during the investigation into the murder of IT professional Jigisha Ghosh who was kidnapped from Vasant Vihar. Her body was recovered on March 21, 2009 in Faridabad.

On March 23, 2009, police arrested Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla and Baljeet Malik in connection with Ghosh’s murder. During interrogation, the three men confessed that they were also involved in Vishwanathan’s murder. Later, police arrested two other accused – Ajay Kumar and Ajay Sethi – in connection with the case.

During the investigation, police found a match between the bullet found in Vishwanathan’s car and the gun recovered from the accused men. They were also successful in recovering the WagonR car they were using at the time of the murder. According to the prosecution, Kapoor shot Vishwanathan with a country-made pistol while he chased her car to rob her.

Costs leveled

In June 2009, Delhi Police filed the first charge sheet in the case, alleging that even though theft was the motive behind the attack, the convicts ultimately decided not to take any of Vishwanathan’s belongings after her car crashed into the road divide had crashed. They were charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) relating to murder, destruction of evidence, forgery and criminal conspiracy. Because Sethi was not present at the time of the crime, he was only charged with destruction of evidence.

Subsequently, charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) were leveled against the convicts in October 2009, saying they were part of an “organized gang”, which is an essential element for invoking the law. Kapoor was named in the new indictment as the mastermind of the gang and alleged that the suspects were involved in more than a dozen cases of robbery, murder and intimidation. It highlighted their criminal records and also labeled them as habitual offenders.

Also read:After a ten-year trial, Soumya’s parents are still waiting for justice

Expedition of the process

In February 2019, the Delhi High Court directed the lower court to expedite the trial and ordered that the case be heard at least twice a week. It also underlined that no postponement should be granted unless there are valid reasons. The order was issued on the plea of ​​accused Baljeet Malik against the “unreasonable and inordinate delay” in the trial.

The Supreme Court had earlier asked the court why proceedings in the case were not completed even though the chargesheet was filed more than nine years ago. Accordingly, it was informed that the delay was mainly caused by the absence of prosecution witnesses and the time needed for the appointment of a special prosecutor.

Conviction and punishment

More than 15 years after Vishwanathan was murdered, a Delhi court on November 25, 2023 awarded two life sentences to the four accused under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and Section 3(1)(i) (committing organized crime resulting in the death of a person) of the MCOCA. The Court clarified that the sentences would run “consecutively” and also imposed a fine of ₹1.25 lakh on each of them.

The fifth convict, Sethi, was sentenced to three years simple imprisonment along with a fine of ₹7.25 lakh for offenses under Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of the IPC and the MCOCA relating to abetting, aiding or knowingly facilitating organized crime. crime and for receiving the proceeds of organized crime. The court noted that Sethi had already served more than 14 years in prison.

Notably, Additional Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Pandey rejected a plea for death penalty and observed that the crime committed by the convicts did not fall in the “rare of rare” category. He ordered that of the total fine amount imposed on the convicts, ₹12 lakh be paid to the victim’s family.

Bail and suspension of sentence

The Delhi High Court on February 12 granted bail to the four convicts and suspended their sentences until their appeal against their conviction was pending. While granting relief, the Court noted that they had been in custody for fourteen years. On January 23 this year, it had asked the Delhi Police to respond to the appeals filed by the four convicts.

(with input from authorities)