Now almost heading for his political sunset, former Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren on Thursday appeared in a fast-track trial court as the sole accused in a 36-year-old double murder case, a remnant from the 66-year-old tribal satrap’s early struggles against non-tribals in unified Bihar.
The verdict in the Kurko double murder case, to be delivered on June 15 at the court in Jharkhand’s Giridih, may decide Soren’s flickering political future. After the JMM chief’s desperate efforts to cling to power in his third short stint as chief minister ended with his resignation, he lost much of his authority within his party and his credibility in the JMM’s post-poll coalition partner, the BJP.
Of the 10 men accused of the April 1974 double murder in Kurko village of Giridih district, Mr Soren is now the sole accused facing trial after eight of the accused were acquitted in 1986 and one died during trial. Two non-tribals — Chundi Singh and Khirodhar Singh — were killed by a mob that accused them of stealing two goats. Mr Soren, then an unknown commoner far from politics, allegedly instigated and led the lynch mob to commit the crime, court documents said. Trial in this case saw an unexpected turn when, on the scheduled date of judgment delivery on April 17, the judge so far hearing the case, ADJ N.N. Singh, chose to disassociate himself from the trial, thus leading to the trial’s transfer to the fast track court of ADJ (9th fast track), Mohammad Qasim.
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J’khand governor says Naxal ops to continue
AGE CORRESPONDENT
new delhi
June 3: Governor M.O.H. Farook, who met home minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday, said there will be no laxity in anti-Naxal operations and they will continue. “There will be no laxity in Naxal operations... they will continue,” he said.
On whether there would be any change in anti-Maoist strategy, the governor said “officers in the field will decide that”.
The remarks gain significance in the wake of imposition of President’s Rule in Jharkhand. There had been allegations that former CM Shibu Soren was going slow against the Maoists during his tenure. He had also skipped a meeting of CMs convened by Mr Chidambaram in Kolkata.