Delhi HC acquits Shibu Soren in Shashi Nath Jha murder case

The Delhi High Court today acquitted former Union Minister Shibu Soren in connection with the murder case of his private secretary, Shashi Nath Jha.

New Delhi, Aug 22 : The Delhi High Court today acquitted former Union Minister Shibu Soren in connection with the murder case of his private secretary, Shashi Nath Jha.

Acquitting Soren along with four other convicts -- Nand Kishore Mehta, Shailendra Bhattacharya, Pashupati Nath Mehta and Ajay Kumar Mehta -- the court said, "We hold that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the case."

The Bench, comprising of Justices R S Sodhi and H R Malhotra also held that the trial court order is far from convincing, adding that "the prosecution (CBI) had failed to prove that the body exhumed was that of Shashi Nath Jha."

A local court had on December 26, 2006 sentenced Soren and four others to life imprisonment for kidnapping and killing Jha.

The JMM leader had challenged his conviction and life sentence in connection with the murder case, which took place in 1992.

In his appeal, Soren challenged the trial court's conviction order on the grounds that the trial judge had ignored the two DNA reports to identify the body of the deceased. He also claimed that every time the report was made available, it had turned out to be negative.

Reacting over the verdict, Shashi Nath's brother, Vijay Nath Jha said they will not give up.

"We were constantly threatened by these people. Were we fools? Was the lower court judge a fool? We will appeal to Supreme Court against this verdict," he said.

Prosecutors said Jha went missing from the Dhaula Kuan area of Delhi on May 22, 1992, and was last seen in Ranchi in the company of Soren loyalists the next day.

They claim that Jha was later murdered as he allegedly possessed knowledge about the money received by JMM MPs, including Soren, from former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao to vote in favour of his minority government in Parliament in 1993.

Jha's mother Priyambada and his two daughters, namely Kavita and Preeti, filed a petition seeking enhancement of the sentence from life imprisonment to the death penalty for Shibu Soren. They also sought enhancement of compensation to surviving members of Jha's family from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.

On March 14, the Delhi High Court had rejected Soren's bail plea. The four other convicts had also challenged the trial court's verdict in the Delhi High Court.

ANI