The Delhi High Court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of JMM leader Shibu Soren, undergoing life term in the murder case of his private secretary Shashi Nath Jha.
"It cannot be said at this stage that the case is bereft of any evidence and it requires to go through medical and other evidences to arrive at a conclusion that there was existence of conspiracy," a Division Bench of Justice Manmohan Sarin and Justice S L Bhayana said.
"There are no special circumstances warranting suspension of sentence," the Bench said, adding that while human liberty is sacrosanct, but it cannot be ignored that appellant Soren was undergoing trial in numerous criminal cases.
Refusing to grant any relief to the tribal leader, it said 'we are not inclined to entertain the application of suspension of sentence and we refuse to grant him the bail'.
Without expressing its opinion on the merits of the case, the Bench said the counsel for Soren and CBI argued the matter to a great length despite its efforts to curtail it.
Earlier, Soren's counsel D C Mathur had submitted before the Bench that his client should be granted bail as he was tried for hatching a criminal conspiracy and not for murder.
CBI counsel Additional Solicitor General Amrender Sharan, however, had opposed it saying that there was sufficient evidence against him for having master-minded the murder 13 years ago.
The Court had reserved its order on Soren's bail plea on March 8.
A Delhi trial court had on December five, 2006, sentenced Soren and four others to life term for abduction and murder of his private Secretary Shashi Nath Jha in 1994.