Soumya Vishwanathan Murder Case: Delhi Court Sentences Life Imprisonment To Four Convicts

NEW DELHI: The Saket Court of Delhi on Saturday sentenced four convicts to life imprisonment for killing TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan in 2008. The court sentenced life imprisonment to Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, and Ajay Kumar who were recently convicted under Indian Penal Code section 302 (murder) and Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) provisions for committing organised crime resulting in the death of any person.

The fifth convict, namely Ajay Sethi, has been sentenced to a period of three years of jail term in the case. He was earlier convicted under IPC Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and MCOCA provisions for conspiring to abetting, aiding in, or knowingly facilitating organised crime and receiving proceeds of organised crime.

Additional Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Pandey while passing judgement in the case, directed that the sentence of the four accused will run consecutively. The Court also imposed a fine of Rs 7.25 lakh on convict Ajay Sethi. The court however set off his sentence as he had already undergone over imprisonment in the case.

On October 26, the court called for a pre-sentence report (PSR) before hearing the quantum of the sentence. The principal secretary of the Delhi government was directed to assign to any Probationary Officer (PO) for the task of submitting the PSR.

Additional Sessions Judge Pandey had earlier convicted four accused namely Ravi Kapoor, Ajay Kumar, Baljeet Malik and Amit Shukla for the offence of murder and running a crime syndicate under MCOCA.

Another accused, Ajay Sethi was convicted of earning the proceeds of crime. Soumya Vishwanathan, a TV Journalist was shot dead on September 30, 2008, while returning home from work in her car around 3:30 am. Police had claimed robbery was the motive behind her killing.