Supreme Court Reviews Bail Orders in High-Profile Journalist Murder Case

The Supreme Court has issued a notice on Delhi Police's plea against a Delhi High Court order granting bail to four convicts in the 2008 murder of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan. The convicts, also involved in the Jigisha Ghosh case, received double life sentences from a special court last year.

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice regarding a plea by Delhi Police challenging a Delhi High Court order that granted bail to four individuals convicted in the 2008 murder of television journalist Soumya Vishwanathan. A bench comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma has linked the Delhi Police's plea with a pending petition filed by Vishwanathan's mother against the bail decision.

In April 2024, the apex court had previously notified the four convicts based on a plea from Vishwanathan's mother contesting the bail granted by the Delhi High Court. On February 12, the High Court suspended the convicts' sentences and granted them bail pending their appeal against the conviction and sentence.

The convicts—Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Singh Malik, and Ajay Kumar—were also implicated in the 2009 Jigisha Ghosh murder case. Vishwanathan, an English news channel employee, was shot dead on September 30, 2008, in South Delhi's Nelson Mandela Marg while returning home from work.

Last year, a special court sentenced Kapoor, Shukla, Malik, and Kumar to double life terms under the Indian Penal Code and the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The court clarified that these sentences would run consecutively.

Challenging the trial court's decision, the convicts appealed to the Delhi High Court, also filing for suspension of their sentences during the appeal's pendency. The High Court noted that the convicts had been in custody for 14 years while granting them bail.

Soumya Vishwanathan's mother has continuously sought the Supreme Court's intervention, emphasizing the gravity of the two life sentences awarded. According to the prosecution, Kapoor used a country-made pistol to shoot Vishwanathan while attempting to rob her, with Shukla, Kumar, and Malik in tow.

In the Jigisha Ghosh case, the trial court awarded the death penalty to Kapoor and Shukla and life imprisonment to Malik. However, the High Court commuted Kapoor's death sentence to life imprisonment and upheld Malik's life sentence.

(With inputs from agencies.)