The action stumped counsel for the accused, who was preparing to seek bail for the suspects on the grounds that the police had failed to file a charge sheet within 90 days of registering a case.
In a dramatic U-turn, the Delhi Police today withdrew their plea in a court here seeking more time to conclude their investigation of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan murder and filed a charge sheet against four suspects.
The police, who had yesterday approached the court for a thirty-day extension to conclude the investigation, filed the 489-page charge sheet under section 3 of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) against Ajay Sethi, Baljeet Singh Malik, Amit Shukla, and Ajay Kumar.
The police did not, however, cite any reason for withdrawing the application for more time to conclude the probe.
Additional sessions judge SK Sarvaria allowed public prosecutor Rajeev Mohan to withdraw the plea and took the charge sheet on record.
"Now, put up the matter for scrutiny of the charge sheet and further proceedings on July 2," the court said.
Counsel for the accused was taken by surprise as he was prepared to seek bail for them on the grounds that the police had failed to file the charge sheet within 90 days of registering the case under the MCOCA.
"Yesterday, police wanted a month's time to conclude the probe on the ground that they had to verify so many new things which have emerged during the probe. Within a few hours, the probe is over and nearly 500-page charge sheet is filed in court," Amit Kumar, counsel for the accused, remarked.
The charge sheet filed by assistant commissioner of police Mohammad Ali proposed to examine 28 witnesses, most of whom are keepers of court records, to prove the case under the MCOCA.
"Ravi Kapoor is a habitual criminal and besides becoming a terror in the minds of the general public and running a criminal syndicate along with his associates, he not only killed innocent persons for pecuniary gains but also committed crimes of robbery and theft etc," the charge sheet said.
The police, in their attempt to substantiate the claim, said 26 FIRs were pending against Ajay Sethi and 20 such cases were lodged against key accused Kapoor.
Five and three FIRs were pending against Amit Shukla and Baljeet Singh Malik, respectively, they said.
In all, 62 cases have been lodged against the five accused, which prompted the investigating agency to invoke the MCOCA against them, the police said.
Kapoor, along with Malik, Amit Shukla, and Ajay Kumar, had allegedly tailed the Headlines Today journalist and shot her on the night of September 30, 2008, when she was returning home by car at around 3:30am.
Initially, four suspects, with the exception of Ajay Sethi, were booked under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code dealing with murder, robbery, cheating, and possessing stolen properties.
Sethi has been charged under milder penal provisions dealing with keeping stolen property.
Subsequently, they were booked under the MCOCA after it came to light that they were involved in several such cases, including the murder of IT executive Jigisha Ghosh.
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