High Court grants bail to 4 life convicts in journalist Soumya’s murder case
New Delhi, February 12
Noting that the convicts had been in jail for 14 years, the Delhi High Court on Monday granted bail to four convicts serving life imprisonment in the 2008 TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan murder case.
A Bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain suspended the sentence of convicts Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Singh Malik and Ajay Kumar till the pendency of their appeals against their conviction and sentence.
Last month, the Delhi High Court had denied parole to Kapoor in view of the gravity of the offences committed by him.
Contending that he has been in custody for the last 14 years and nine months, Kapoor’s counsel had urged the court to suspend his sentence during the pendency of the appeal.
A similar prayer for suspension of sentence was also made by advocate Amit Kumar, who represented Shukla, Malik and Ajay Kumar.
The high court had on January 23 asked the Delhi Police to respond to the appeals filed by the four convicts.
Soumya, a journalist with a leading English news channel, was shot in the wee hours of September 30, 2008, on Nelson Mandela Marg in Delhi while she was returning home from work. The police had said the motive behind Soumya’s killing was robbery. The recovery of the weapon used in IT executive Jigisha Ghosh’s killing had led to the cracking of Soumya’s murder case, police had said.
A special court had on November 26, 2023, awarded two life terms to Kapoor, Shukla, Malik and Ajay Kumar under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and Section 3(1) (i) (committing organised crime resulting in the death of any person) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The court had made it clear that the sentences would run “consecutively”.
The fifth convict, Ajay Sethi, was handed down three years of simple imprisonment under Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of the IPC.
It, however, set off the three-year sentence against the time Sethi had already served, noting he remained in custody for more than 14 years and underwent incarceration during the trial for offences under the IPC and MCOCA for conspiring to abet, aid, or knowingly facilitate organised crime and receiving proceeds of organised crime.
The trial court had also imposed a fine of Rs 1.25 lakh on each of them. It had imposed a fine of Rs 7.25 lakh on Sethi.
Kapoor, Shukla and Malik were also convicted of killing Ghosh. The trio later confessed to police they were also behind Soumya’s murder, and the weapon used for killing her was recovered from their possession.
The trial court had awarded the death penalty to Kapoor and Shukla and sentenced Malik to life imprisonment in the 2009 Ghosh murder case. However, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the high court. The high court upheld Malik’s life sentence.
Was killed in September 2008
- TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan was shot while returning home from work on September 30, 2008
- In March 2009, the police claimed breakthrough in the case following recovery of weapon used in the killing of IT executive Jigisha Ghosh
- On March 28, 2009, five men — Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, Ajay Kumar and Ajay Sethi — arrested
- Kapoor, Shukla, Malik and Kumar convicted of murder and under MCOCA provisions. Sethi was convicted of dishonestly receiving stolen property and under MCOCA sections
- On November 26, 2023, a special court awarded two life terms to Kapoor, Shukla, Malik and Kumar; Sethi was sentenced to three-year imprisonment
- In January 2024, Kapoor’s counsel urged the court to suspend his sentence during the pendency of the appeal against their conviction and sentence
- A similar prayer for suspension of sentence was also made by advocate Amit Kumar, who represented Shukla, Malik and Ajay Kumar.
(With PTI inputs)
