Soumya murder motive robbery,says chargesheet

Vishwanathan,26,a journalist with Headlines Today news channel,was returning home after the night shift on September 30 last year,when she was shot dead. Her body was found in her car on Nelson Mandela Marg,a little way off her Vasant Kunj home.The chargesheet claims though robbery was the motive behind the attack,the assailants decided against taking any of Vishwanathan’s belongings after her car crashed against the road divider.

As per the chargesheet,prime accused Ravi Kapoor had pulled the trigger. It names four other accused: Amit Shukla,Ajay Kumar,Baljit Malik and Ajay Sethi. They have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) relating to murder,destruction of evidence,forgery and criminal conspiracy. Sethi has been charged only for destruction of evidence,as he was not with the other accused on the fateful night,the charge-sheet notes.

The chargesheet lists 60 prosecution witnesses and other relevant documents. It says the investigators have collected call records indicting that the accused were near the crime spot on the night of the incident. The police claim the location of their mobile phones before the crime (when they reportedly had dinner and alcohol at a dhaba) and afterwards (when they went to AIIMS) establish their position near the crime spot.

As per the chargesheet,another crucial piece of evidence is the recovery of the .315-bore pistol with which Kapoor allegedly shot Vishwanathan. The police claim Kapoor confessed to his crime in his disclosure statement while being interrogated in connection with the murder of BPO executive Jigisha Ghosh in March.

On Saturday,police had filed the chargesheet in Ghosh’s murder case,naming Kapoor as the main accused.

The chargesheet says the Wagon-R car used by assailants for the crime has also been recovered from Ajay Sethi’s possession,and it was found out that they had stolen it to commit robberies. The car had changed hands several times after the incident and none of the accused possessed it “exclusively”,the police have said.

“The accused have also been booked under stringent provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA),” an officer said. “Investigations are on and we will file a supplementary chargesheet for the Vishwanathan murder case under MCOCA in some time.”

Loose ends
Two facts still to be confirmed and validated by police for court to rely on them as crucial evidence:
* The firearm has been recovered but the bullet recovered from the spot is yet to match it. The police are waiting for the forensic report to establish that the bullet that hit Vishwanathan was fired from the same gun.
* Wagon R car has also been sent to Forensic Science Laboratory to ascertain the police claim that the accused had collided against Vishwanathan’s car after she refused to stop. Police claim the front-right portion of the Wagon-R was damaged and the accused got it repainted. The forensic report will match this dent with those found on Vishwanathan’s car for a conclusive opinion.