Soumya Vishwanathan murder case: Four get life imprisonment, fifth convict Ajay Sethi gets 3 years in jail

A court in New Delhi has sentenced four convicts to life imprisonment while it awarded three years imprisonment to the fifth convict Ajay Sethi in connection with the gruesome killing of Soumya Vishwanathan.

New Delhi: A local court here on Saturday sentenced four convicts to life imprisonment in connection with the 2008 Soumya Vishwanathan murder case. The court also sentenced the fifth convict Ajay Sethi to 3-years in jail.

The Court said that the offence doesn't fall within the rarest of rare cases and refused the request for the death penalty. The Court had earlier convicted five men and Additional Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Pandey, presiding over the case, had announced the verdict on October 18, 2023. He found Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, Akshay Kumar, and Ajay Sethi guilty of the heinous crime.

The gruesome killing incident took place on September 30, 2008, when 25-year-old Soumya Vishwanathan, a news producer with Headlines Today, was shot dead in the early hours of the morning on the Nelson Mandela Marg in south Delhi. She had just left her office at 3:03 am, driving home to Vasant Kunj, when her life was abruptly cut short in what initially appeared to be a robbery gone awry.

The assailants, identified as Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, and Akshay Kumar, targeted Soumya as she drove alone. In a horrifying turn of events, they chased her car, attempted to intercept it, and ultimately fired a fatal shot with a country-made weapon, causing her immediate death. The car crashed against a divider, bringing an end to Soumya's life.

The trial, which commenced years after the incident, faced its share of challenges. The absence of direct physical contact between the victim and the perpetrators made it a particularly intricate case. However, the commitment and diligence of the Delhi Police, especially HGS Dhaliwal, ensured that justice prevailed.