Jigisha murder: Death sentence of convicts reduced to life imprisonment
What's the story
The Delhi HC has commuted the death sentence awarded to two convicts in the Jigisha Ghosh murder to life imprisonment. Six years after they had abducted, robbed and killed Jigisha in 2009, Ravi Kapoor and Amit Shukla had been given the death penalty for the crime, while Baljeet Malik was awarded life. The case had triggered a debate on the safety of working women.
Background
The cold blooded murder of Jigisha Ghosh in 2009
In 2009, 28-year-old Jigisha Ghosh, an IT professional, was dropped near her apartment in Delhi by an office cab at 4am. She was abducted by three men from right outside her Vasant Vihar residence. Her jewellery, phones and bank cards were stolen. Her body was later found dumped in Surajkund, Haryana, nearly 20km from her residence.
Arrest
Accused were nabbed when they used Jigisha's cards to shop
CCTV footage helped police identify the trio, who were nabbed from Delhi within a week when they used Jigisha's cards to shop. Cops observed they were shopping without "any apparent remorse". Two were sentenced to death and another to life imprisonment. The judge observed the murder fell in the "rarest of the rare category" as the victim was killed in cold blood.
Crime
Trio behind another murder and several extortions
A TV journalist, Soumya Vishwanathan, was shot dead in September'08 while driving back home from work. The case remained unsolved for long until the police recovered the murder weapon from the same trio. They later confessed. Kapoor and Shukla were both found linked to numerous extortion cases. Kumar had posed as a cop to blackmail people. Shukla had even allegedly extorted people from prison.
Information
Jigisha's parents braved death threats for justice for their daughter
During the fight for justice, Jigisha's parents said they had received several threat calls. "Unknown people call us up. They threaten us..asking us to withdraw the case," Jigisha's mother said. However, most times, their allegations were overlooked as "senile aberrations" by police.