In the murder of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan, a Delhi court on Saturday sentenced all four convics to life imprisonment.
The deision came as the court took into cognisance the fact that the crime perpetrated by the four convicts did not fall under the ambit of ‘rarest of rare’ category and hence, the death penalty could not be imposed.
Killing of journalist Soumya Vishanathan
Back in September 30, 2008, Vishwanathan was shot dead on her way back to home from work in her car around 3:30 am. According to police, the motive behind her killing was robbery.
Police apprehended five men- Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, Ajay Kumar and Ajay Sethi- for killing her and are in custody since March 2009.
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Police had invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused.
The recovery of the weapon used in IT executive Jigisha Ghosh's killing had led to the cracking of Vishwanathan's murder case, police said.
Legal proceedings so far
Back on October 18, the Delhi court convicted the four accused, Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Ajay Kumar, Baljeet Malik, and Ajay Sethi for murder and common intention, almost 15 years after the crime took place.
The convicts were also held guilty under provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for committing organised crime resulting in the death of the person. The offences entail the death penalty as the maximum sentence.
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The court also convicted the fifth person, Ajay Sethi, under Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and MCOCA provisions for conspiring to abet, aid or knowingly facilitate organised crime and for receiving the proceeds of organised crime.
