Jharkhand Vikas Morcha hails acquittal of Soren in murder case

New Delhi, Aug 22 (UNI) Jharkhand Vikas Morcha today welcomed the acquittal of former union minister Shibu Soren in the Shashinath Jha murder case and said, it has strengthened the faith of people of Jharkhand in the legal system.

JVM convenor Shivshankar Singh said Mr Soren had struggled for the past five decades for the rights of people. By acquitting him, the judiciary has restored the people's faith in the legal system.

The Delhi High Court has cleared the JMM leader of charges of murdering his personal assistant Shashinath Jha 13 years ago and held that the CBI had failed to prove the guilt of the tribal leader, revered as 'Guruji' by his followers.

Mr Soren, who has been serving life sentence, awarded by the lower court in the case on December 5, 2006, had moved the High Court to oppose the sentence.

The CBI had accused Mr Soren of getting his personal secretary Shashinath Jha killed.

Reversing the sentence, a division bench comprising Justices R S Sodhi and H R Malhotra held that the trial court's judgement dated November 28, 2006 was erroneous.

UNI