The Delhi High Court has instructed the city police to respond to appeals filed by the four convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the Soumya Vishwanathan murder case, challenging their conviction and sentence. A bench comprising Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain issued notices to the police in response to the appeals filed by Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Singh Malik, and Ajay Kumar.
Soumya Vishwanathan, a journalist working with a prominent English news channel, was fatally shot on September 30, 2008, on Nelson Mandela Marg in South Delhi while returning home from work in her car.
The court declared, “Appeal admitted. Trial court record be requisitioned.” Additionally, the court directed the authorities to submit a reply to the interim application filed by the convicts seeking the suspension of their sentence. The bench also instructed the jail authorities to provide the nominal roll detailing their conduct in prison and scheduled the hearing for the interim application on February 12.
On November 26, 2023, a special court sentenced Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, and Ajay Kumar to two life terms under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and Section 3(1)(i) (committing organized crime resulting in the death of any person) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
The court specified that the sentences would run “consecutively.” The fifth convict, Ajay Sethi, received three years of simple imprisonment under Section 411 of the IPC.
However, the court offset the three years of the sentence against the time Sethi had already served, acknowledging his more than 14 years in custody during the trial for offenses under the IPC and MCOCA related to conspiring to abet, aid, or knowingly facilitate organized crime and receiving proceeds of organized crime.