HC seeks police response to pleas against conviction

Vishwanathan  worked at Headlines Today (now India Today). She was shot dead in her car in South Delhi while she was on her way home on September 30, 2008.

The Delhi high court on Tuesday sought the response of the police to the pleas challenging the life sentence and conviction of the four men of murdering journalist Saumya Vishwanathan in 2008.

A Justice Suresh Kumar Kait-led bench issued the notice while also seeking the trial court records. It postponed the matter for hearing on February 12.

The trial court on October 18 found Baljeet Malik, Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, and Ajay Kumar guilty of murder and convicted them under the Indian Penal Code (IPC)’s Sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) and the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA). It convicted the fifth accused, Ajay Sethi, under Section 411 of IPC (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and MCOCA.

The court observed that the prosecution successfully proved through scientific evidence, testimonies of witnesses, and Kapoor’s confessional statement that the four men were guilty of Vishwanathan’s murder.