Kochi: A court on Saturday sentenced four accused to life term in connection with the murder of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan who was killed about 15 years back.The fifth convict Ajay Sethi was sentenced to three-year simple imprisonment under IPC section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and MCOCA provisions for conspiring to abet, aid, or knowingly facilitate organized crime and receiving proceeds of organized crime.
The Delhi’s Saket court slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 each and Rs 1 lakh each under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA)the convicts Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Balbir Malik and Ajay Kumar. The fifth convict, Ajay Sethi, was imposed a fine of Rs 7.5 lakh. The court directed to pay Rs 1.2 lakh from the fine collected from the four convicts to the parents of Soumya.
The court ruled that a sum of Rs 7.2 lakh out of Rs 7.25 lakh collected from Ajay Sethi, be handed over to the family of Soumya.Employed with the India Today Group, Soumya was shot dead in the early hours of September 30, 2008, in South Delhi.According to the prosecution the motive of the murder was robbery.
