HC rejects parole plea of man convicted in Soumya Vishwanathan & Jigisha Ghosh murder cases

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has denied parole to Ravi Kapoor, convicted for killing journalist Soumya Vishwanathan and IT executive Jigisha Ghosh, considering the gravity of the offences committed by him.

The high court also took into account the overall conduct of Kapoor in jail and said it had been unsatisfactory given that 41 major punishments had been awarded to him.

"Taking into account the criminal history of the petitioner, the facts of the case in which the petitioner has been convicted and the gravity of the offence committed by him, and his overall conduct inside the jail premises, this court is not inclined to grant parole to the petitioner, at this stage. Accordingly, the present petition stands dismissed," Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said.

Kapoor, who is currently serving a life sentence, sought parole for four weeks on the grounds of maintaining social ties with his family and for undergoing a knee surgery.

He was awarded the death penalty by a trial court in 2016 in the 2009 Jigisha Ghosh murder case and it was later commuted to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court. He was also convicted in the case of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan's murder in 2008. The trial court convicted and sentenced him to a life term in 2023.

The Delhi government's standing counsel Sanjay Lao opposed the plea for parole and argued that the competent authority had rightly rejected the parole application considering the seriousness of the offence committed by him and the pendency of multiple cases against him.

The high court, while rejecting Kapoor's plea, said there is no denying the fact that the Supreme Court and this court have time and again emphasised the need to respect the rights of the convicts and the need to acknowledge the importance of being released on parole for several purposes, including for maintaining social and family ties.

However, at the same time, the courts are also bound to consider counterbalancing public interest while deciding the issue of grant of parole in light of the facts and circumstances of a case.

Justice Sharma said Kapoor is a habitual offender, who has been involved in about 20 criminal cases between 2002 to 2010 and has been convicted in two cases involving the commission of offences such as murder and robbery with the most recent conviction being in October 2023.

"Though his conduct inside jail remains satisfactory for the last few years, the overall jail conduct has been unsatisfactory owing to as many as 41 major punishments being awarded to him," the high court said.

Jigisha, 28, who was working in an IT firm, was kidnapped and killed in the early morning of March 18, 2009, after her office cab dropped her near her home in South Delhi's Vasant Vihar at around 4 am. Her body was recovered two days later from Surajkund in Haryana. Police later arrested three men and they were held guilty by the court.

Recovery of the weapon allegedly used in Jigisha's killing had led to cracking of the Soumya Vishwanathan murder case. Vishwanathan, a journalist with a news channel, was shot dead on September 30, 2008, while she was returning home from office in the early hours.

The police had claimed robbery as the motive behind the killings of both Jigisha and Soumya.