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The Delhi high court on Wednesday acquitted former Union minister Shibu Soren in connection with the murder of his private secretary Shashi Nath Jha in 1994 after slamming the Central Bureau of Investigation for failing "miserably" in getting evidence against the tribal leader.
Setting aside the trial court order, which had sentenced Soren and four others to life term, a Bench of Justice R S Sodhi and H R Malhotra said the CBI had "miserably failed" to prove the case.
"We set aside the order of the trial court," the Bench said observing that that CBI was not able to prove that the body exhumed was that of Jha.
The Bench also held that "the trial court order is far from convincing."
The 62-year-old tribal leader from Jharkand, who had to quit as Union coal minister following his conviction on November 28, 2006, is at present lodged at Jamtara prison in Jharkhand in connection with Chirudih massacre case.
The court also acquitted four others -- Nand Kishore Mehta, Shailendra Bhattacharya, Pashupati Nath Mehta and Ajay Kumar Mehta -- of all the charges on the same grounds.
The court said all the convicts should be released forthwith if they are not involved in any other case.
A Delhi trial court had on November 28, 2006, convicted Soren and four others for abduction and murder of Jha.
The order on sentencing was pronounced on December 5, 2006.
Jha had gone missing from Dhaula Kuan area of Delhi on May 22, 1994, and was last seen in Ranchi allegedly in the company of Soren's loyalists next day.