Soumya Vishwanathan murder case: Delhi Court awards life sentence to 4

Delhi’s Saket court on Saturday handed down life imprisonment to four individuals convicted in the 2008 murder case of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan. In addition, the four convicts were also fined ₹1.25 lakh by the court. The fifth convict received a three-year jail term.

Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Balbir Malik and Ajay Kumar have been given life sentences and each of the convicted individuals was additionally fined Rs. 1.25 lakhs. The fifth accused, Ajay Sethi received a fine of 7.25 lakhs along with a 3-year jail term. The total fine amounting to 12.25 lakhs will be given to the victim’s family.

A producer with Headlines Today, Soumya Vishwanathan was fatally shot in her car in Vasant Kunj while returning home from work on September 30, 2008, with a country-made gun fired by Ravi Kapoor. The police asserted that the motive behind her murder was robbery.

On October 18, Judge Pandey found four individuals — Ravi Kapoor, Ajay Kumar, Baljeet Malik, and Amit Shukla — guilty of murder (IPC Section 302) and MCOCA charges. A fifth accused, Ajay Sethi, was found guilty under Section 411 of the Indian Penal Code for unlawfully retaining the involved vehicle.

Madhavi Vishwanathan, Soumya Vishwanathan's mother has been demanding life imprisonment for the convicted individuals for 15 years. “In a way, we are also enduring a life imprisonment," said Soumya’s mother. The additional session’s judge noted that the offense does not fall under the "rarest of rare cases"; therefore, the death penalty was not awarded.​