Soumya Vishwanathan murder case" Delhi court takes on record PSR report on convicts, adjourns hearing

New Delhi, Nov 7 (IANS) A Delhi court on Tuesday took on record the pre-sentence report (PSR) filed by the probationary officer in the case against five individuals convicted in the 2008 murder case of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan.

Additional Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Pandey of Saket Courts who was scheduled to hear the arguments on the quantum of sentence against the convicts, adjourned the matter, noting that the verification of the affidavits filed by the convicts was not complete.

Now, the court is likely to take up the matter on November 24.

On October 18, the court had convicted four accused under MCOCA provisions and one for receiving stolen property. The judge had posted the matter for November 7 after noting that certain documents, including the PSR by the probationary officer, as well as the affidavits of the five convicts, had not yet been filed and ordered the preparation of these reports and affidavits.

Four accused -- Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Ajay Kumar and Baljeet Malik -- have been convicted under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) provisions and Ajay Sethi for receiving stolen property.

On September 30, 2008, Vishwanathan was shot dead on the Nelson Mandela Marg while returning home from work in her car. The accused were arrested in connection with the murder and have been in custody since March 2009.

The police had attributed the motive for her killing to robbery, and had invoked the stringent MCOCA against the accused.

Malik, Kapoor and Shukla were previously convicted in the 2009 killing of IT executive Jigisha Ghosh. For Ghosh's murder, the trial court sentenced Kapoor and Shukla to death and awarded a life term to Malik. Subsequently, in the following year, the high court commuted the death sentences of Kapoor and Shukla to life imprisonment while upholding Malik's life term in the Ghosh's murder case.

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