Soumya Vishwanathan case: After 15 years, justice delivered to the journalist.

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A Delhi Court found guilty and sentenced five men part of an organized criminal syndicate for the charges of murder along with additional offenses on Wednesday, saying the allegations regarding them were proved above all reasonable doubt over fifteen years following the television journalist Soumya Vishwanathan was shot and killed on spot while on an attempt at robbery in south Delhi region of the national capital.

Soumya Vishwanathan was a young reporter aged 25 years for India Today, who was shot dead in her vehicle in South Delhi’s Nelson Mandela Marg on 30th of September the year 2008. According to reports, she was on her way back home from her workplace around 3:30 am in the morning.

The police first had trouble identifying her killers. However, one of the suspects admitted that he was involved in the murder of Soumya during an investigation in the year 2009 regarding the death of BPO employee Jigisha Ghosh. Her murder, according to the Delhi Police, was committed for robbery. According to the Police, the murder case of the journalist was solved after the weapon used to kill Jigisha Ghosh was found.

The official in charge of the case at the time the incident occurred, ACP Bhisham Singh, stated that the conviction was primarily the result of three factors: the weapon used in the offense that was retrieved in the possession of the accused, the forensic sketch of the location of the crime, and the sequence or pattern of incident that happened to match to the confession made by the accused.

The four convicted individuals i.e., Ajay Kumar, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, Ravi Kapoor as well as the fifth convict, Ajay Sethi were charged under section 411 which states to dishonestly receive stolen property along with conspiracy for abetment, assist, or carry out as well as receive the profits of the organized criminal activity on purpose under sections 3(2) and 3(5) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

The five men were found guilty by Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) of Delhi Court Ravindra Kumar Pandey on the charges of murder and common intention under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

On October 26, the court will be hearing arguments regarding the severity of punishment to be imposed on the convicts.

Written by: Divyani Newar, College name: NEF Law College, 5^th Semester, 3 Year LL.B., intern under Legal Vidhiya

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