Journalist Soumya Vishwanathan Murder Case: 4 Convicts Get Life Imprisonment, 5th Sentenced To 3 Yrs In Jail

Delhi's Saket Court Saturday sentenced life imprisonment to all four accused involved in 2008 Delhi journalist Saumya Vishwanathan's murder case.

File Photo Of Journalist Soumya Vishwanathan's Parents

Source : Getty Images

The Saket Court in Delhi sentenced four convicts in the 2008 murder of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan to life in prison on Saturday, while the fifth was sentenced to three years in prison.

According to a PTI report, in determining the appropriate punishment, the court stated that the offence does not fall into the category of the rarest of rare cases. As a result, the request for the death penalty was denied, the report said. 

Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, and Ajay Kumar have all received life sentences. Ajay Sethi, the fifth convict, received a three-year sentence of simple imprisonment.

Delhi's Saket Court sentenced life imprisonment to all four accused involved in 2008 Delhi journalist Saumya Vishwanathan's murder case.

— ANI (@ANI) November 25, 2023

Reacting to the development, Vishwanathan's mother, Madhavi Vishwanathan said: "In a way, we are also enduring a life imprisonment," as seen in a video posted by PTI on X.

VIDEO | Soumya Vishwanathan murder case: "In a way, we are also enduring a life imprisonment," says Madhavi Vishwanathan (Soumya's mother) after a Delhi court sentenced four convicts to life imprisonment.

Vishwanathan, who was working with a leading English news channel, was… pic.twitter.com/HB7TJttIyX

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 25, 2023

Vishwanathan, who worked for a major English news channel, was killed in the early hours of September 30, 2008, while walking home from work on south Delhi's Nelson Mandela Marg. The motive, according to police, was robbery. On October 18, the court found Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, and Ajay Kumar guilty of committing organised crime that resulted in the death of any person under the Indian Penal Code section 302 (murder) and Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) provisions.

Ajay Sethi was found guilty of conspiring to abet, aid, or knowingly facilitate organised crime and receiving proceeds of organised crime under IPC section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and MCOCA provisions.

According to the PTI report, which cited the prosecution report, Ravi Kapoor shot Vishwanathan with a country-made pistol on Nelson Mandela Marg in South Delhi on September 30, 2008, while chasing the victim's car to rob her. Kapoor was joined by Amit Shukla, Ajay Kumar, and Baljeet Malik.

The car used in the murder was recovered by police from the fifth accused, Ajay Sethi alias Chacha.