Delhi’s Saket court handed a life sentence to four convicts in the murder of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan, nearly 15 years after the tragic incident. The fifth convict received a sentence equivalent to the time served in jail. Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Balbir Malik, and Ajay Kumar were fined Rs 25,000 each, along with Rs 1 lakh each under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The fifth convict, Ajay Sethi, was fined Rs 7.5 lakh.

As part of the verdict, the court ordered that Rs 1.2 lakh from the fines imposed on the four convicts be given to Soumya Vishwanathan’s parents. Additionally, out of the Rs 7.25 lakh to be paid by Ajay Sethi, Rs. 7.2 lakh should also be released to the family, according to the court’s directive.

The court stated that the actions of the four convicts did not meet the criteria for the ‘rarest of rare’ category, leading to the decision against imposing the death penalty.

Soumya Vishwanathan, a journalist with the India Today Group, was fatally shot on September 30, 2008, on Nelson Mandela Marg in south Delhi while returning home from work. Despite initial beliefs of a car accident, forensic reports later revealed her cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head, with the police citing robbery as the motive.

In its observations during the sentencing, the court expressed the unfortunate loss of Soumya’s life, emphasizing the challenges faced by women in the workforce due to higher risks of abuse and assault during travel.

The court had previously, on October 18, convicted all five accused of murder and crime with common intention. The convicts were also found guilty under MCOCA provisions for organized crime resulting in the person’s death, which carries the death penalty as the maximum sentence. Ajay Sethi faced additional convictions under Section 411 for dishonestly receiving stolen property and MCOCA provisions related to conspiring and receiving the proceeds of organized crime.

This sentencing marks a significant development in delivering justice for the tragic murder of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan.

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