New Delhi:

September 30, 2008, was just another day for 25-year-old journalist Soumya Vishwanathan. A news producer with Headlines Today, she had stayed back late to help out with a breaking news event. Her work done, she left the Jhandewalan office at 3.03 am, got into her car and drove home to Vasant Kunj. She didn’t know this drive would be her last, that a late-night robbery attempt would brutally cut her life short.

A Delhi court yesterday convicted five men in the 15-year-old murder case. Four accused – Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljit Malik and Akshay Kumar — were held guilty of murder and loot. The fifth, Ajay Sethi, was held guilty of helping the others.

On her way back, Soumya overtook a car occupied by Kapoor, Shukla, Kumar and Malik, police officers who probed the case have told news agency PTI.

The four convicts, police said, noticed that the woman driver who overtook them was alone. They sped up and started following. First, they tried to intercept Soumya’s car. She did not stop. Kapoor then fired at her with a countrymade weapon. The bullet hit her on the head, killing her instantly. The car crashed against a divider on Nelson Mandela Marg, close to her home, and came to a halt.

The killers fled the scene, an officer said, but returned 20 minutes later to check the victim’s condition. When they saw police personnel, they ran away.

Around 3.45 am, a staff of a nearby restaurant cycling home saw a woman in the car, with its headlights and engine on. He stopped a couple of vehicles and then called the cops. Soumya was rushed to AIIMS where she was declared dead. During their investigation, police found that Soumya had called her father around 3.15 am and told him that she was on her way. In less than half an hour, she was dead.

Police later found her phone and wallet in the car.

The investigation in the case was conducted by police from Delhi South district, then under HGS Dhaliwal, now special commissioner of Delhi Police special cell. Speaking to the media after the verdict yesterday, the senior officer said it was a challenging case as there was no physical contact between the victim and the killers. “Only a bullet was fired from a moving vehicle that hit Soumya, killing her,” he said. The officer said the family had also been offered a CBI investigation, but they decided to stick with Delhi Police. He said he is happy that Delhi Police lived up to the faith.

Police made a breakthrough in the Soumya Vishwanathan murder case during its probe into the murder of another woman, Jigisha Ghosh, in 2009. Ghosh was looted and murdered on March 18, 2009. Ravi Kapoor was arrested in this connection. And during questioning, he said they had murdered another woman.

Yesterday’s ruling brings some closure to Soumya’s loved ones.

India Today News Director Rahul Kanwal, who was Soumya’s colleague at the time, was at the court for the verdict. “Soumya Vishwanathan was the brightest young producer I have had the privilege of working with. On the night she was murdered, Soumya had stayed back after finishing the afternoon shift to help the night team prepare for the morning show. There had been a major terror attack and the newsroom was stretched covering the breaking news. Soumya was the flag-bearer of commitment and hard work in our newsroom,” he posted on X.

“Her gruesome murder on the way back home has haunted me for 15 years. Was filled with emotion and relief as I heard Judge Pandey pronounce all the accused guilty in a crowded Saket courtroom this afternoon. Nothing will bring Soumya back but at least the murderers will pay for their crime,” he added.

After the verdict, Soumya’s parents Madhavi Vishwanathan and MK Vishwanathan fought back tears. Speaking to the media, Ms Vishwanathan said, “We lost our daughter, but this will act as a deterrent for others otherwise they (the convicts) would have been emboldened. At least, one gang would be out. That’s all.” She said she wants life sentence for the convicts. 

New Delhi:

A hand tattoo, a wireless set stolen from a policeman, and CCTV footage helped Delhi Police crack the case of the killing of IT professional Jigisha Ghosh and eventually led the investigators to the killers of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan, officials said on Wednesday.

Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla and Baljeet Malik, who were arrested for murdering Ghosh in 2009, later confessed to their involvement in Vishwanathan’s murder in 2008.

A Delhi court Wednesday convicted four persons — Kapoor, Shukla, Malik and Ajay Kumar – of an organised crime syndicate for murder and other offences for the killing of Vishwanathan.

The court also convicted fifth accused Ajay Sethi under section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) provisions for conspiring to abet, aid or knowingly facilitate organised crime and for receiving the proceeds of organised crime.

Following the confessional statements of the trio, the Delhi Police arrested Ajay Kumar and Ajay Sethi and booked all five for killing Vishwanathan on September 30 2008 when she was returning home from work.

Ghosh was looted and murdered on March 18, 2009.

“The murder case of Jigisha was solved two-three days after her body was recovered from the Suraj Kund area in Faridabad. We had got the first lead from a CCTV footage where we found one of the accused was having a tattoo on his hand while shopping using Jigisha’s debit card. Another was carrying a wireless set and wearing a cap,” Atul Kumar Verma who was the investigating officer of the case told PTI.

Then the officers worked meticulously on Delhi Police’s human intelligence network and soon, the police team reached the residence of Malik in Masoodpur. Kapoor and Shukla were arrested subsequently.

Malik had his name inked on his hand while Kapoor used to carry a wireless set which he had snatched from a police officer.

“They revealed that they kidnapped Jigisha from near her house in Vasant Vihar and later killed and dumped her body after looting her. They also did shopping using her debit cards,” Verma said.

Verma was leading a team of officials from Vasant Vihar police station.

“We were a bit shocked when Ravi Kapoor himself revealed that they had committed the murder of another girl at Nelson Mandela Marg, which was not very far from Vasant Vihar,” said Verma. He also said two other associates – Ajay Kumar and Ajay Sethi – were involved in that murder.

The then Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), HGS Dhaliwal, immediately set up another team of officers and appointed then ACP Bhisham Singh to look into both the murder cases.

Singh told PTI, “Since we had just confession of the accused for Soumya murder case, the major challenge before us was to collect forensic evidence as well.” Detailing the night when Vishwanathan was killed, police said Kapoor drove a Maruti Wagon R car and Shukla sat next to him. Malik and Kumar occupied the rear seat. All of them were drunk, the police said.

“On September 30, a car zoomed past their vehicle. It was a Maruti Zen which Soumya was driving back to her home in Vasant Kunj. She was returning from TV Today’s office then located at Videocon Tower in Karol Bagh,” another officer, O P Thakur, who was among the investigators, said.

On seeing a woman driver overtaking them and that she was alone, they raised the speed of their vehicle and came closer to her vehicle.

First, they tried to waylaid her, and when she did not stop her car, Kapoor opened fire at Vishwanathan’s vehicle. The bullet hit her in the temple leaving her dead on the spot.

Vishwanathan’s car stopped after ramming into a divider.

“All the accused fled from the spot but 20 minutes later returned to see her condition. When they saw police personnel, they ran away,” the officer said.

“We are very satisfied today. The conviction has happened basically due to three reasons – weapon of offence which was recovered from the accused, the forensic sketch of the spot, and the sequence of incident matched with the confession statement of the accused,” Singh said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

“I am reaching home in 5 minutes. Keep my breakfast ready”: That was her last phone call.

14 years after 28-year-old Jigisha Ghosh’s murder, her mother Sabita Ghosh recalled the painful day as the verdict was delivered in Headlines Today journalist Soumya Vishwanathan’s murder case.

The murders of her daughter and Soumya are deeply interlinked. Three of the men accused and consequently convicted in both cases are the same. They were the same gang that attacked both women, when they were returning home from work.

Jigisha Ghosh, an I-T executive, was kidnapped and murdered in March 2009, just few meters from her home in Vasant Vihar. She was returning home early in the morning, after finishing presentations for a US project.

Soumya, a 25-year-old journalist with Headlines Today, was killed at Delhi’s Vasant Vihar on September 30, 2008, while she was on her way home from work. Her body was found in her car. She had suffered a headshot.

Though Soumya’s murder happened a year before, the police only managed to crack the case after they arrested Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla and Baljeet Malik in the Jigisha murder and robbery case.

“Soumya’s case was a blind case, there was no evidence, till the arrests in my daugher’s case,” said Sabita Ghosh.

“In my daughter’s case, they found hard evidence, like her ornaments, her mobile phone.  They could trace the items they bought with her cards. They bought caps, wrist watch and shoes with her cards. But my daughter used to sign horizontally. Whereas Ravi Kapoor had signed against the card expenses vertically.  That was one clear evidence which showed that there was robbery and embezzlement linked to the murder,” she added.

The Delhi Police managed to connect the dots between both cases after the accused allegedly confessed to shooting Soumya Vishwanathan in a similar robbery attempt.

Soumya Vishwanathan’s family and Jigisha Ghosh’s family lived within a stone’s throw of each other, in South Delhi’s Vasant Vihar area.

In the initial days of both investigations, both families kept in touch with each other. But Jigisha’s case wrapped up earlier, with death sentence being awarded to two of the convicts and life sentence to the third in 2016.  It was around the same time that Soumya Vishwanathan’s case hit legal hurdles, with change in public prosecutor.

The sentence for two of the accused in Jigisha case was later commuted to life by the Delhi High court.

“After the trial got over, we moved to Noida, and have not been in touch with Soumya’s family. But am very happy that she and her family have finally got justice that they deserve,” said Mrs Ghosh.

Even though in both cases the prosecution has managed to get a conviction, the families still wait for closure.

“My daughter was a shy girl. She was just four years into her job. She had a bright future ahead of her.  We wanted death sentence for the accused. But we had already gone through a long legal battle in our old age, and so we decided against appealing in the Supreme Court,” Mrs Ghosh said.

Sentencing in the Soumya Vishwanathan murder case is scheduled for October 26.

New Delhi:

Five people were today convicted in the 2008 murder case of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan. A Delhi court also held the accused guilty of loot and under provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljit Mallick and Akshay Kumar were held guilty of murder and loot. The fifth accused, Ajay Sethi, was held guilty of helping the others.

Vishwanathan, a 25-year-old journalist, was killed at Delhi’s Vasant Vihar on September 30, 2008. Her body was found in her car. She had suffered a headshot. 

Speaking to the media after the judgment, Soumya’s mother said, “We lost our daughter, but this will act as a deterrent for others.” She said she wants life imprisonment for the convicts. 

Police’s first breakthrough in the case came while it was investigating another murder case – that of IT executive Jigisha Ghose, found dead in Faridabad months after Soumya.

Kapoor, Shukla and Malik had been arrested in connection with the IT executive’s death. During questioning, police found their links with the Vasant Vihar murder. Thereafter, two more accused were arrested.

In its 620-page chargesheet filed in 2009, Delhi Police had said the motive behind the murder was robbery.

“They are charged under murder, destruction of evidence, forgery and criminal conspiracy. MCOCA has also been slapped against the all five accused,” senior police officer HGS Dhaliwal had then said.

This afternoon, the senior officer hugged Soumya Vishwanathan’s mother after the verdict.