The Delhi High Court recently issued notice to the police and sought response to appeals lodged by four convicts in the murder case of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan challenging their conviction and life sentence.
A bench comprising Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain issued notice to police on appeals by Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljit Singh Malik and Ajay Kumar. The Delhi High Court further directed the authorities to file a reply to the convicts’ interim application seeking suspension of their sentence. The court also ordered the jail authorities to send the nominal roll of the applicants before 3 days of next hearing. The High Court listed the hearing on February 12.
The convicts were convicted by a Delhi court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in November last year. In their appeal challenging their life sentence, the convicts stated that the trial court had delivered the verdict in the blind and clueless murder case under acute media and social pressure.
The plea further alleged that the Delhi Police had falsely charged them. It stated the trial court had committed a grave error by convicting and sentencing the accused on the basis of surmises and conjectures under the various provisions of penal law for their similar alleged acts.
Furthermore, it underlined that the trial court had further failed to acknowledge that the prosecution had miserably failed to link the accused in commission of the alleged offence, mentioning that there was no recovery of murder weapon or vehicle from the accused.
Earlier on November 25, 2023, Delhi’s Saket court sentenced four convicts in the murder of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan to life imprisonment, almost 15 years after the crime took place in Delhi. The fifth convict has been sentenced to the period already undergone by him in jail.
Journalist Soumya Vishwanathan was shot dead on September 30, 2008 while she was returning home in her car from the office. The police had asserted robbery as the motive behind the killing of the journalist.