4 Jan : Barely days after he became Jharkhand Chief Minister for the third time, Shibu Soren faced an embarrassment with a court on Monday directing him to appear before it on 3rd February in connection with a 35-year-old double murder case.
Soren, who will seek a trust vote in the Jharkhand Assembly on 7th January, is the sole accused in the case in which eight others were acquitted in 1986.
Soren was made one of the accused in the double murder case which had occurred on 15th April1974 over the killing of a goat at Kudko under Pirtand police station in Giridih.
Two villagers who protested against their goat being killed by a group, were beaten to death. Five witnesses in the case including two doctors and two investigating officers went missing and have not been traced over the years.
Additional District and Sessions Judge N N Singh’s direction came after Soren’s counsel Prakash Sahay pleaded for time.
Soren, also the JMM president, was present in the Jharkhand assembly, the first session of which began on Monday.
Soren took oath as the Chief Minister on 30th December at the head of a five-party coalition.