HC acquits Soren in Jha murder case

New Delhi, Aug 22: The Delhi High Court today held former Union Minister and JMM leader Shibu Soren innocent of murder charges in Shashinath Jha murder case.

The division bench headed by Judges R S Sodhi and B N Chaturvedi held that the CBI had conclusively failed to establish Shibu Soren's role in Shashinath Jha's murder.

A lower court had sentenced Soren to life imprisonment on December 5, 2006 on charges of murdering his personal secretary Shashinath Jha.

Shashinath Jha was abducted and found dead in the forest of Piskamore, Ranchi. Even though the identity of the dead body was disputed by Jha's family, the CBI had argued that the body was his. However, later the DNA test was found to be inconclusive.

A lower court had sentenced Shibu Soren to life imprisonment, taking into account his motives and circumstantial evidences.

The High Court today said CBI's claim that the body was of Jha was not convincing enough nor it could establish that he was murdered at all.

UNI