The Supreme Court on April 22 issued notice in a petition filed by Madhavi Vishwanathan, mother of murdered television journalist Soumya Vishwanathan, against the bail granted to four men convicted in the case. In February, the Delhi High Court granted bail to convicts — Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik and Ajay Kumar during the pendency of their appeals against their conviction and sentence in the case. The first three were also convicted in the 2009 Jigisha Ghosh murder case and are still in jail.
A Bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal was initially reluctant to issue notice and instead asked Ms. Vishwanathan’s mother, Madhavi, to approach the High Court with a plea to expeditiously hear and decide the appeals. Justice Trivedi orally remarked that that the four men had served more than 14 years of their sentence.
However, advocate Malini Poduval appearing on behalf of the bereaved mother tried persuading the Bench by pointing out that the convicts would become a menace to society again on their release on bail. Ultimately, the Court granted the relief and listed the matter for hearing after four weeks.
In light of this development, here is a look back at the important events in the case.
Timeline of events
The murder case
Soumya Vishwanathan, a 25-year-old journalist at India Today — was found murdered at Vasant Vihar’s Nelson Mandela Road in what police claimed was a case of armed robbery in the early hours of September 30, 2008. According to court records, the local police station received a phone call about the killing around 3: 55 a.m. from a passer-by. Consequently, a Police Control Room team reached the spot and found a damaged Maruti Zen car lying near the central verge of the road. There were skid marks suggesting that the vehicle had dragged for some distance before ramming into the central verge and coming to a halt. The headlights were on and the right front tyre had burst.
Three of the four accused arrested by the Delhi Police for the sensational murder of Jigisha Ghosh, in New Delhi. File | Photo Credit: V. Sudershan
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on the same day and booked unknown persons for the offence of murder (Section 302 of the IPC). However, the breakthrough in the case came only a year later during the investigation of the murder of IT professional Jigisha Ghosh who was abducted from Vasant Vihar. Her body was recovered from Faridabad on March 21, 2009.
On March 23, 2009, the police arrested Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, and Baljeet Malik in connection with Ghosh’s murder. It was during questioning that the three men allegedly confessed that they were also involved in Vishwanathan’s murder. Later, the police arrested two other accused — Ajay Kumar and Ajay Sethi — in connection with the case.
While probing, the police found a match of the bullet found in Vishwanathan’s car to the weapon recovered from the accused men. They were also successful in recovering the WagonR car used by them at the time of the murder. According to the prosecution, Kapoor shot Vishwanathan with a country-made pistol while chasing her car to rob her.
Charges levelled
In June 2009, the Delhi police filed the first chargesheet in the case which claimed that although robbery was the motive behind the attack, the convicts ultimately decided against taking any of Vishwanathan’s belongings after her car crashed against the road divider. They were charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) relating to murder, destruction of evidence, forgery and criminal conspiracy. Since Sethi was not present at the time of the crime, he was charged only with the offence of destruction of evidence.
Subsequently, in October 2009, charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) were levelled against the convicts saying that they were a part of an “organised gang” which is an essential element for invoking the law. Listing Kapoor as the mastermind of the gang, the new chargesheet claimed that the accused were involved in more than a dozen cases of robbery, murder and intimidation. Highlighting their criminal antecedents, it also labelled them as habitual offenders.
Also Read:After decade-long trial, Soumya’s parents still waiting for justice
Expedition of trial
In February 2019, the Delhi High Court directed the lower Court to expedite the trial and ordered it to hear the case at least twice every week. It also underscored that no adjournments should be entertained unless there were valid reasons. The order was passed on a plea moved by accused Baljeet Malik against the “unreasonable and inordinate delay” in the trial.
The High Court had earlier asked the trial court why proceedings in the case were not concluded even though the chargesheet was filed over nine years ago. Consequently, it was informed that the delay was caused primarily due to the non-presence of prosecution witnesses and the time taken for the appointment of a special public prosecutor.
Conviction and sentence
More than 15 years after Vishwanathan was killed, a Delhi Court on November 25, 2023, awarded two life terms to the four accused under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and Section 3(1)(i) (committing organised crime resulting in the death of any person) of the MCOCA. The Court clarified that the sentences would run “consecutively” and also imposed a fine of ₹1.25 lakh on each of them.
The fifth convict — Sethi, was handed down three years of simple imprisonment along with a fine of ₹7.25 lakh for offences under Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of the IPC and the MCOCA relating to abetting, aiding in, or knowingly facilitating organised crime and for receiving proceeds of organised crime. The court noted that Sethi had already undergone more than 14 years of imprisonment.
Notably, Additional Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Pandey rejected a plea for the death penalty noting that the crime committed by the convicts did not fall in the “rarest of rare” category. He ordered that of the total fine amount imposed on the convicts, ₹12 lakh will be paid to the victim’s family.
Bail and suspension of sentence
The Delhi High Court on February 12 granted bail to the four convicts and suspended their sentence till the pendency of their appeals challenging their conviction. While granting relief, the Court noted that they had been in custody for 14 years. On January 23 this year, it had asked the Delhi Police to respond to the appeals filed by the four convicts.
(with agency inputs)
