HC pulls up CBI counsel in Soren case

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday pulled up the CBI counsel for failing to do his "home work" in the Shashi Nath Jha murder case, in which former Union Minister Shibu Soren has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court last year.

"Don't give up your case like this. As a Public Prosecutor(PP) you fill the gap in the case," a Division Bench of Justice R S Sodhi and Justice H R Malhotra told CBI counsel R M Tiwari while commencing its hearing on final arguments on the appeal filed by Soren.

"Be focussed and do not feel defeated. As a PP you defend your case strongly," the Bench observed after Tiwari failed to answer a series of queries posed by it.

"We are giving you a month's time to read each and every line of the file and then argue the case," Justice Sodhi said and adjourned the case to July 6.

"No more fairy tale on the next date of hearing, we need hard evidence," the Bench remarked after Tiwari failed to place before the Court the evidence which established that Jha was demanding Rs 15 lakhs from Soren, which the JMM leader had allegedly received for party MPs from the then Prime Minister Narsimha Rao to vote in favour his minority government in the Parliament in 1993.

The Court was not convinced with Tiwari's submission that Soren's Charted Accountant( Sushil Kumar had said in his testimony that he was told about Jha's demand by one lawyer Ram Iqbal who got to know the fact from Rabinder Kumar, the complainant in the JMM MPs bribery case.

"Mr Tiwari this is too much hearsay, which is not admissible in the court. You tell us the direct evidence which establish the fact," the Bench said.

Meanwhile, Soren's counsel RK Anand argued before the court that there was no evidence to prove that his client had a motive to eleminate Jha and had hatched conspiracy.

Anand also submitted that the money in question could not be treated as bribe as all six MPs from JMM, who had allegedly received it were acquitted by the trial court.

He further argued that the case of abduction against his client was not established as two accused who had allegedly pushed Jha into the white Ambassador car were acquitted by the trial court due to lack of evidence.

The Court was hearing final argument on the appeal filed by Soren who has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his private secretary Shashi Nath Jha.

A Delhi court had on December 26, 2006, convicted Soren and four others 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 had knowledge about the money allegedly received by JMM MPs, including Soren, from the then Prime Minister P V Narsimha Rao to vote in favour of his minority government in Parliament in 1993, they said.