'Police torturing me for money'

Accused in Soumya Vishwanathan murder case blames cops of corruption

Accused in Soumya Vishwanathan murder case blames cops of corruption

Investigation into the Soumya Vishwanathan muder case took another interesting turn when one of the prime accused alleged that cops in Tihar jail have been torturing him for bribe. The incident which happened on June 25 took the court of Additional Session Judge SK Sarvaria by surprise and issued immediate orders for the medial examination of accused Amit Shukla.


Masked marauders? The accused in the Soumya Vishwanathan and
Jigisha Ghosh murder cases. (Below right) Soumya Vishwanathan.

Shukla alleged that the prison staff take bribe for providing additional facilities like mobile phones and dry fruits tortured him for days after he refused to shell out any money. But even after the orders from the court the jail staff did not go for the medical examination of the accused following which the complaint was forwarded to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja. The matter is slated to be heard on July 8.

Interestingly, it is the second time an accused in the sensational murder case of Delhi scribe has alleged police of torture and brutality. Few months back another accused Ravi Kapoor produced a knife in the court room alleging that jail staff was trying to implicate him falsely. Kapoor had claimed that the jail staff after threatening him of dire consequences asked him to carry a knife into the court room.

Kapoor is known for creating unnecessary troubles for the cops. Before the knife incident also he had tried to hurt his leg to remain out of police custody and had thrown chilli powder in his eyes.

Ravi Kapoor, along with Baljeet Singh Malik, Amit Shukla and Ajay Kumar, had allegedly tailed the journalist and shot at her on the night of September 30, 2008, when she was returning home by her car from office at around 3:30 am.

A chargesheet has already been filed against Kapoor, the main accused. Initially, four accused, except Ajay Sethi, were booked under various provisions of the IPC related to murder, robbery, cheating and possession of stolen properties. Sethi has been charged under a milder penal provision dealing with keeping stolen property. Subsequently, they were booked under MCOCA after police claimed they were involved in several such cases including the murder of IT executive Jigisha Ghosh.