New Delhi, Jul 8 () The Delhi High Court Wednesday dismissed the plea of a key convict in the 2009 IT executive Jigisha Ghosh murder case, seeking interim bail on the ground that he was HIV positive and at a high risk of being infected with COVID-19.
Justice A K Chawla denied the relief to the man, who is also facing trial in the murder of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan, saying his apprehension would be better taken care of by the state -- "a welfare State".
The convict sought interim bail on the premise that he is suffering from serious ailment of HIV positive coupled with others and he has high risk of being infected with Covid-19.
As per the status report filed by the police, he was a habitual and hard core criminal involved in cases of robbery, theft, burglary, Arms Act and Motor Vehicles Act among others and Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) has been invoked against him.
Advocate Ashutosh Kaushik, appearing for the convict, submitted that he stands acquitted in 12 of the 21 cases listed in the status report.
To this, the judge said, "Acquittal of an accused of the kind in a few or many cases is not a matter of surprise for the court. As for the medical condition of the applicant, the court believes that the apprehension of the applicant would be better taken care of by the State – a welfare State."
The key convict, who has been in jail since 2009, was sentenced to death sentence by a trial court here. However, the high court commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment.
Jigisha, 28, who was working in an IT firm, was kidnapped and killed on 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 on March 20,2009, from Surajkund in Haryana. Police had later arrested three men in the case and they were held guilty by the court.
Recovery of the weapon allegedly used in Jigisha's murder had led to cracking of the murder case of Soumya Vishwanathan, who was a journalist with a news channel.
Soumya was shot dead on September 30, 2008 while she was returning home in her car from office in the wee hours.
The police had claimed robbery as the motive behind the killings of both Jigisha and Soumya. SKV HMP SKV RKS RKS
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