Read Time: 06 minutes

Synopsis

A Delhi court on Saturday handed down double rigorous life imprisonment to four members of an organised crime syndicate for killing TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan around 15 years ago.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ), Ravindra Kumar Pandey of Saket Court, awarded two life imprisonments to Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, and Ajay Kumar under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under Section 3 (1) (1) of The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (committing organised crime resulting in the death of any person) and made clear that they will run "consecutively."

While ordering the quantum of punishment, the ASJ said the offence does not fall in the category of the rarest of rare cases. "So requests for the death penalty is refused", it said.

Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik and Ajay Kumar have been sentenced to life imprisonment. The fifth convict, Ajay Sethi, has been sentenced to simple imprisonment for three years.

Notably, the court on November 24 "reserved its order" on the quantum of punishment to be awarded to the men convicted for killing the TV journalist.

Earlier, noting that the "verification of the affidavits filed by the convicts was not complete", the court adjourned the matter for hearing arguments on sentence today. The judge, however, took on record the pre-sentence report filed by the probationary officer.

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 the 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 put in custody in 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.