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Synopsis

A Delhi Court on Thursday posted the matter on November 7 of the consideration of affidavits, reports, and arguments related to the sentencing in the Soumya Vishwanathan murder case.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Ravindra Kumar Pandey of Saket Court passed the order. 

Notably, on October 18, the court convicted four accused, Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Ajay Kumar, and Baljeet Malik, under the provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case.

The judge also convicted the fifth accused, Ajay Sethi, under Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property).

All four accused persons have been convicted under Sections 302((murder), Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, and provisions of MCOCA. All five accused were produced before the court when the verdict was pronounced. 

Notably, on October 13, the court reserved its judgment in the 2008 murder case. The ASJ had directed all the accused to be present in court for verdict pronouncement.

Soumya Vishwanathan 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. 

Five people, namely Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, Ajay Kumar, and Ajay Sethi, were arrested for killing her and have been in custody since March 2009. 

The police had invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) provisions against the accused.  Malik and two others, Ravi Kapoor and Amit Shukla, were earlier convicted in the 2009 killing of IT executive Jigisha Ghosh.

The recovery of the weapon used in Jigisha Ghosh’s killing had led to the cracking of the murder case of Vishwanathan, police said. The trial court had awarded the death penalty to Kapoor and Shukla and a life term to Malik in the Jigisha Ghosh murder case in 2017.

Case Title: State v. Ravi Kapoor & Ors.