A Delhi court convicted Union Coal Minister Shibu Soren and four others for the murder of his private secretary.
Updated at 6.10 pm
NEW DELHI: Union Coal Minister Shibu Soren was on Tuesday convicted by a Delhi court after it held him guilty of conspiracy in the kidnap and murder of his former private secretary Shashi Nath Jha 12 years ago.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought Soren's resignation, following his conviction.
Others convicted in the case are -- Nand Kishore Mehta alias Nandu, Shailendra Bhattacharya, Pashupati Nath Mehta alias Posho and Ajay Kumar Mehta alias Dillip.
Additional Sessions Judge BR Kedia found Soren, who is also chief of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, guilty of kidnapping and hatching the conspiracy to kill his secretary.
However, the court acquitted two others -- Sunil Khaware and Asish Thakur.
Soren, 62, was present in the court when the judge pronounced the verdict.
Earlier, in his tenure in this government, Soren had to resign after a Jharkhand court issued a non-bailable warrant against him in connection with a case of murder during a protest agitation in the early 80s.
He is on bail in the case and was reinducted into the Cabinet early this year.
All the five, including Soren have been taken into custody. The court fixed November 30 for hearing the arguments on the quantum of sentence.
The court said Soren has been found guilty under Sections 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) read with 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 302 (murder) of the IPC.
The other four accused -- Nand Kishore Mehta alias Nandu, Shailendra Bhattacharya, Pashupathi Nath Mehta alias Posho and Ajay Kumar Mehta alias Dillip -- were convicted for actually committing the offence of kidnapping and murder.
Soren also heads the regional Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party, part of the ruling coalition government and has five lawmakers in the 545-member Parliament.
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