The Delhi High Court on Monday granted bail to four convicts serving life imprisonment within the homicide case of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan. A bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain suspended the sentence of Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Singh Malik and Ajay Kumar until the pendency of their appeals difficult their conviction and sentence.
The bench famous that the convicts have been in custody for 14 years. The excessive court docket had on January 23 requested the Delhi Police to reply to the appeals filed by the four convicts. Vishwanathan, who labored with a number one English information channel, was shot lifeless within the early hours of September 30, 2008, on Nelson Mandela Marg in south Delhi whereas she was returning dwelling from work in her automotive.
A particular court docket had on November 26, 2023, awarded two life phrases to Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik and Ajay Kumar below Section 302 (homicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 3(1)(i) (committing organised crime ensuing within the dying of any individual) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The court docket had made it clear that the sentences will run “consecutively”.
The fifth convict, Ajay Sethi, was handed down three years of easy imprisonment below part 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of the IPC. It, nonetheless, set off the three-year sentence in opposition to the time Sethi had already served, noting he remained in custody for greater than 14 years and underwent incarceration throughout the trial for offences below the IPC and MCOCA for conspiring to abet, support, or knowingly facilitate organised crime and receiving proceeds of organised crime.
Kapoor’s counsel had submitted that he has been in custody for the final 14 years and 9 months and urged the court docket to droop his sentence throughout the pendency of the attraction. An identical prayer for suspension of sentence was additionally made by advocate Amit Kumar, who represented Shukla, Malik and Ajay Kumar. While sentencing Kapoor, Shukla, Malik and Kumar to double life imprisonment, the trial court docket had additionally imposed a tremendous of Rs 1.25 lakh on every of them. It had imposed a tremendous of Rs 7.25 lakh on Sethi.
Recently, the excessive court docket denied parole to Kapoor, contemplating the gravity of the offences dedicated by him. Out of the four convicts, Kapoor, Shukla and Malik had been additionally convicted of killing IT skilled Jigisha Ghosh. The trio later confessed to police they had been additionally behind Vishwanathan’s homicide, and the weapon used for killing her was recovered from their possession. The Delhi Police had stated the motive behind Vishwanathan’s killing was theft.
The trial court docket had awarded the dying penalty to Kapoor and Shukla and sentenced Malik to life imprisonment within the 2009 Jigisha Ghosh homicide case. However, the dying sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the excessive court docket. The excessive court docket upheld Malik’s life sentence. According to the prosecution, Kapoor shot Vishwanathan with a country-made pistol whereas chasing her automotive to rob her. Shukla, Kumar and Malik had been additionally with Kapoor. Police recovered the automotive used within the homicide from Sethi alias Chacha.
(With inputs from PTI)
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