Saumya Vishwanathan Age, Death, Family, Biography & More

Bio/Wiki
Profession	Journalist
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 160 cm in meters- 1.60 m in feet & inches- 5’ 3”
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Personal Life
Date of Birth	8 December 1982 (Wednesday)
Birthplace	New Dehli
Date of Death	30 September 2008
Place of Death	Nelson Mandela Marg, New Delhi
Age (at the time of death)	25 Years
Death Cause	Murder (gunshot injury on head) [1]India Today
Convicts	• Ravi Kapoor: Before his arrest in March 2009, Ravi Kapoor was known to be a car thief, who sometimes doubled up as a police informant. Kapoor and his gang were responsible for the murders of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan, IT executive Jigisha Ghosh, and a taxi driver, all of these incidents on the same stretch of South Delhi. A conman, Kapoor had over 13 cases against him. Not only disguised as a police officer but also dressed up as a judge or a doctor sometimes and extort money from people. To avoid suspicion, Kapoor and his gang would often pose as police informants and even drive official police vehicles. So, when they committed the three murders, the police did not have any suspicions about them. They often hung out with some South Delhi police officers, providing them with false information and skillfully extracting updates on the investigations. With this knowledge, they managed to stay one step ahead of the cops at every step. Cops seized police uniforms, wireless sets, a fake ID card of a cop, a press card, and fake visiting cards from his house. [2]The Times of India • Amit Shukla: Shukla was an extortionist who sometimes worked as police informer. Reportedly, he fled from Delhi two days after Vishwanathan's murder in 2008. He came back to the city only a week before Ghosh was murdered on 18 March 2009. • Baljeet Malik: Malik, who went by the alias Poppy, was the first to be identified by the police through a tattoo on his left wrist. He had seven cases of robbery and extortion against him. When Malik, Kapoor, and Shukla were being interrogated for IT executive Jigisha Ghosh's murder in 2009, Malik provided a crucial breakthrough to the police by confessing his role in the 2008 murder of Soumya. • Ajay Kumar: Ajay Kumar was on the run before he was arrested in 2009. Reportedly, during one of his court hearings at the Patiala House Court Complex, Kumar attacked Ajay Sethi another accused in the case, with a blade. • Ajay Sethi: According to the Delhi Police, Sethi was not directly involved in Saumya's murder. Sethi used to deal in stolen vehicles. He that he had no knowledge that the stolen vehicle Kapoor was attempting to sell him had been used in Vishwanathan's murder. He was originally from Dehradun and was residing in Faridabad when the murder took place. He was arrested in April 2009.
Zodiac sign	Sagittarius
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	New Delhi
College/University	• Kamala Nehru College, affiliated with the University of Delhi, New Delhi • Indian Institute Of Mass Communication (IIMC), Dhenkanal, Odisha
Educational Qualification(s)	• A bachelor's degree in journalism at Kamala Nehru College, affiliated with the University of Delhi, New Delhi • A post-graduation degree in broadcast journalism at the Indian Institute Of Mass Communication (IIMC), Dhenkanal, Odisha [3]The Indian Express
Relationships & More
Marital Status (at the time of death)	Unmarried
Family
Husband/Spouse	N/A
Parents	Father- MK Vishwanathan (worked at Voltas) Mother- Madhavi Vishwanathan (worked as a lecturer at Delhi University before taking a job at a private firm)
Siblings	Sister- Shubha Viswanath (lives in Nairobi, Kenya)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Saumya Vishwanathan

• Saumya Vishwanathan was an Indian journalist who worked as a news producer at Headlines Today (now India Today). In 2008, she was shot dead while driving her car near on Nelson Mandela Marg, New Delhi.

• Her father hailed from Kuttippuram, Kerala. ^[4]Viswanathan Mk – Facebook

• She grew up in New Delhi.
  

  Childhood picture of Saumya Vishwanathan

• She joined the Headlines Today new channel as a news producer in February 2008 and worked there till September 2008 when she was murdered.

• Before Headlines Today, she had also worked at CNN-IBN.

• On 30 September 2008, Soumya was shot dead near her home in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj. She was found dead in her Maruti Zen car with a gunshot wound to her head. Soumya had stayed late at her office in Jhandewalan to assist with breaking news on two bomb blasts, one in Malegaon in Maharashtra and the other in Gujarat. While driving back home, Soumya overtook a WagonR with four men inside – Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljit Malik, and Akshay Kumar. These men noticed that Soumya was driving alone and began to follow her. They attempted to get her to stop, but she couldn’t hear them as she was listening to music. In response, Kapoor fired a shot at her using a Desi Katta (a countrymade weapon), which took her life instantly. Her car crashed into a divider on Nelson Mandela Marg and came to a halt. Around 3:45 a.m., a restaurant employee cycling home discovered Soumya’s car and alerted the police. Soumya was rushed to AIIMS, where she was pronounced dead. Initially, the killers fled the scene but later returned to check on the victim. When they saw the police at the crime scene, they fled once more. The investigation into this case was led by IPS officer HGS Dhaliwal.
  

  Soumya Vishwanathan’s parents, MK Vishwanathan and Madhavi Vishwanathan, with IPS officer HGS Dhaliwal

  The police achieved a significant breakthrough in Soumya’s murder case while investigating the killing of another woman, Jigisha Ghosh, in March 2009. Ravi Kapoor and his gang had murdered and looted Ghosh. To track down the culprits, the police followed the transactions made with Jigisha’s stolen ATM card, which were used to purchase items like shoes, a television, and a watch in areas like Saket and Sarojini Nagar. During their investigation, the police came across a blurry CCTV recording that showed the three suspects buying a watch. In the footage, one of the accused appeared to be muscular with a tattoo on his left wrist, while another was seen with a wireless set and wearing a cap. Consequently, a police team began visiting gyms in areas such as Vasant Vihar, Vasant Kunj, Malviya Nagar, and Saket. A gym instructor in Masoodpur village, Vasant Kunj, identified Baljeet Malik, also known as Poppy, who had his name tattooed on his hand. Meanwhile, Kapoor was recognized to carry a wireless set which he had snatched from a police officer. This led to the arrest of the killers. During their interrogation, Malik admitted their involvement in another woman’s murder, which turned out to be Soumya. In 2017, a trial court sentenced Ravi Kapoor and Amit Shukla to death and handed Baljeet Malik a life sentence in the Jigisha Ghosh murder case. However, in 2018, the Delhi High Court commuted the death sentences of Kapoor and Shukla. It took fifteen years to bring Soumya’s killers to justice. On 13 October 2023, Delhi court convicted five men in connection with Soumya’s murder. Four accused persons Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljit Malik, and Akshay Kumar, were held guilty for the offences under Section 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of IPC. Meanwhile, the fifth, Ajay Sethi, was convicted for the offence under Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of IPC.