Sentence to Soren deferred till tomorrow

New Delhi, Nov 30 (UNI) A city court today adjourned till tomorrow pronouncing the sentence to former Union Minister Shibu Soren and four others in the 1994 Shashi Nath Jha murder case.

After being informed by the Delhi Police officials that the JMM Chief was undergoing angiography at AIIMS, Additional Sessions Judge B R Kedia deferred the hearing till 1400 hrs tomorrow.

The court was informed that the doctors at AIIMS were not in a position to allow Soren to attend the proceedings.

Soren's counsel senior advocate R K Anand and R K Naseem requested the court to adjourn the hearing as the JMM Chief was admitted to the hospital after being taken into judicial custody.

CBI Special Prosecutor A K Singh, however, pleaded that notice be issued against the AIIMS Director to clarify the position vis-a-vis Soren's health.

Other four convicts Nand Kishore Mehta alias Nandu, Shailendra Bhattacharya, Pashupati Nath Mehta alias Posho and Ajay Kumar Mehta alias Dillip were produced in the court for the hearing.

Earlier in the day, the court, which was to hear arguments on the quantum of sentence to be awarded to Soren and four others at 1100 hrs had adjourned the same till 1430 hrs after being informed that Soren was in the CCU of the cardiology department at AIIMS.

On November 28, the court had convicted Soren and the four co-accused of conspiring to abduct and kill his private secretary Shashi Nath Jha twelve years ago.

UNI XC/NR YA KN1933