Ranchi: Former Jharkhand chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren was Tuesday acquitted in a 1974 double murder case.
Soren was accused of inciting a mob to kill Chundi Singh and Khirodhar Singh, who allegedly stole two goats and killed them in Kodko village of Giridih district in April 1974.
Ten people were accused in the case and a chargesheet was filed against them in 1978. Eight accused were acquitted in 1986 and one died during the trial.
A fast track court of Mohammad Qasim pronounced the judgment, which was reserved June 3. The court had reserved its orders after hearing the arguments of Soren's lawyer.
The case was transferred to the fast track court after the verdict, scheduled to be delivered April 17, was deferred when Additional District Judge N.N. Singh dissociated himself from the case.
The case against Soren was pending as he failed to appear in the court earlier.
In 2004, Soren, the then Coal minister, had gone into
hiding for over a week after a Jamtara court issued a non-
bailable warrant in connection with the 1975 Chirrudih
massacre in which 19 persons were killed.
After being asked to resign, Soren had sent his papers
through a party delegation to the Prime Minister's Office in
Delhi.
Soren was re-inducted in the union cabinet with the
same portfolio on January 29, 2006. But his tenure was again
short-lived as he had to step down following his conviction in
the Shashinath Jha murder case by a Delhi court.
The JMM chief was acquitted in this murder case by the
Delhi High Court on August 22, 2007.
IANS
First Published: Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 14:48