Court lists 2008 Saumya Vishwanathan murder case for final arguments
Aug 27, 2022
New Delhi [India], August 27 : A special MCOCA Court hearing the 2008 Saumya Vishwanathan murder case recently listed the case for final arguments after recording the statement of the accused persons. Saumya Vishwanathan was allegedly murdered in Delhi's Vasant Kunj area in September 2008. The Prosecution evidence took almost 10 years to be concluded.
Additional Sessions Judge Anil Kumar of Saket District Court has listed the matter for hearing the final argument for next month.
The court noted that the accused persons namely Ravi Kapor, Baljeet, Ajay Sethi, Amit Shukla and Ajay Kumar are not interested to lead evidence in their defence. Therefore the matter was listed for the final arguments.
Journalist Vishwanathan was found shot dead in her car at Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj on the night of September 28, 2008.
This case was worked out after the arrest of accused persons in IT professional Jigisha Ghosh's murder case. They were arrested in the Saumya Vishwanathan case on March 28, 2009. They were booked under the stringent law Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime (MCOCA).
Accused Ravi Kapoor along with Amit Shukla was awarded the death sentence by the trial court in the Jigisha Ghosh murder case which was commuted to life imprisonment by the Delhi High court.
This 14 year old case pertains to the alleged murder of TV Journalist Saumya Vishwanathan who was working with a private channel. On the night of the incident, she was returning home after the night shift and was allegedly shot dead.
The Delhi government had appointed Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) and the case was assigned to a special MCOCA Court to fast-track the hearing.
Later on, the SPP resigned from his post. This matter was lingering on from the beginning and it took almost a decade to complete the prosecution evidence.
Delhi police had invoked Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) on the basis of the past involvement of accused persons in other heinous cases including the Jigisha Ghosh murder case.
