HC notice to CBI in Soren case

New Delhi, Jan 25 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation on the appeal filed by former Union Minister Shibu Soren, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his private secretary Shashi Nath Jha.

A Division Bench of Justice Manmohan Sarin and Justice SL Bhayana asked the CBI to reply by February 19 and also called for the trial court records in the case.

Soren also moved a bail application which would be heard on the next date of hearing. A Delhi court had convicted Soren and four others on December 26, 2006, for abduction and murder of Jha.

According to the prosecution, Jha went missing from Dhaula Kuan area of Delhi on May 22, 1992 and was last seen in Ranchi in the company of Soren's loyalists the next day. His body was exhumed from Piska village near Ranchi in 1998.

Jha was murdered as he allegedly fell out with Sibu over sharing the booty given to the JMM MPs to bail out the Congress from an apparent defeat in no confidence motion in 1993.

UNI