It has been more than one-and-a-half decades since TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan was murdered. On Wednesday, a Delhi court convicted the killers of the 25-year-old woman.
Vishwanathan was shot dead at Nelson Mandela Marg in south Delh's Vasant Kunj area on September 30, 2008, around 3.30 am while she returning home from work.
Police had claimed that the motive behind her murder was robbery and in March 2009, they arrested five men – Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, Ajay Kumar and Ajay Sethi – for killing Soumya.
Here is a timeline of Soumya Vishwanathan murder case.
September 30, 2008: Soumya Vishwanathan shot dead at Nelson Mandela Marg in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj, while returning home from work in her car around 3.30 am
March 28, 2009: Five men – Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik, Ajay Kumar and Ajay Sethi – arrested after recovery of the weapon used in IT executive Jigisha Ghosh's murder reveals the involvement of the same accused in Soumya's murder.
April 2009: Delhi police invokes the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused in the Soumya murder case.
February 6, 2010: Ravi Kapoor, Baljeet Singh, Amit Shukla, Ajay Kumar, and Ajay Sethi slapped with charges under murder, robbery and other offences.
August 2016: A trial court sentences Kapoor and Shukla to death while Malik was sentenced to life in the 2009 Jigisha Ghosh murder case.
January 2018: Delhi High court commutes the death sentences of Kapoor and Shukla to life imprisonment. Malik's life term was upheld.
February 27, 2019: Delhi High Court orders trial court to speed up the trial of Soumya's murder case based on plea filed by Malik
September 1, 2023: Final arguments begin before Additional Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Pandey.
October 13, 2023: Justice Pandey reserves judgment in the case after completion of arguments by the defence and prosecution. The court said all parties can file written submissions, if any, by October 14.
October 18, 2023: Delhi court to pronounce verdict in the case.
