Four accused sentenced to imprisonment granted bail in Soumya Viswanathan murder case

NE W DELHI: The Delhi High Court granted bail to the four accused sentenced to imprisonment in the case of shooting to death Malayali journalist Soumya Viswanathan. Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Singh Malik and Ajay Kumar, who are serving life sentences, have been granted bail. A bench comprising Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain granted the bail.

The sentence was frozen pending a decision on the plea of the accused challenging the punishment. The bench pointed out that the accused have been in custody for 14 years. The court had directed the Delhi Police in last January to respond to the plea filed by the four accused.

Soumya Viswanathan was killed on September 30 in 2008 at 3.30 am. Soumya, a journalist at Headlines Today (now IndiaToday), was driving home in Delhi's Vasant Kunj after work. The case is that the accused, who followed her in another car, shot at Soumya and robbed her when they reached Nelson Mandela Marg.

Soumya, who was in the driving seat, was shot in her head. For six months, the police did not get any clue about the identity of the accused. Their role in the killing of Soumya Viswanathan came to light in March 2009 when the accused were arrested in the murder of IT employee Jigisha Ghosh.

Four accused were sentenced to life imprisonment and the fifth accused was sentenced to three years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh. Four accused namely Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljit Singh and Ajay Kumar were sentenced to life imprisonment and the fifth accused Ajay Sethi was sentenced to three years imprisonment. The verdict was delivered by the Saket Additional Sessions Court. The court found the accused guilty on October 18.