Delhi’s Saket court has pronounced life imprisonment for four men convicted of the 2008 murder of television journalist Soumya Vishwanathan. Additionally, the court imposed a fine of ₹1.25 lakh on each of the four convicts. The fifth accused in the case has been sentenced to three years in jail.
Soumya Vishwanathan was fatally shot in her car in Vasant Kunj on September 30, 2008, while returning home from work.
The court’s decision, announced after detailed arguments and a reserved verdict by Trial judge Ravindra Kumar Pandey, followed the conviction of the four accused—Ravi Kapoor, Ajay Kumar, Baljeet Malik, and Amit Shukla—in October. They were convicted under murder and MCOCA charges. The fifth accused, Ajay Sethi, was convicted under Section 411 of the Indian Penal Code for retaining the offending vehicle.
During the sentencing, the public prosecutor informed the court that, apart from convict Amit Shukla, the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) had reported “unsatisfactory” conduct in jail. The prosecutor noted discrepancies between the DLSA report and the jail superintendent’s report regarding the conduct of three of the five convicts.
The police, investigating the murder of Jigisha Ghosh, identified the convicts and claimed that robbery was the motive behind Soumya Vishwanathan’s murder.
Soumya Vishwanathan’s mother had advocated for life imprisonment for the convicted individuals. The journalist, employed by a private television news channel, was shot dead on Vasant Kunj’s Nelson Mandela Marg. Source: Hindustan Times
