Soren: Massacre row

Jamtara, July 18: An arrest warrant is expected to be issu- ed against Union coal minister Sibu Soren tomorrow in connection with a 30-year-old massacre, casting a cloud on his berth in the ministry and triggering a debate on the legal privileges of those holding elected posts.

Jharkhand police are preparing themselves to seek the Lok Sabha Speaker’s permission to arrest Soren as soon as the warrant is issued by the sub-divisional judicial magistrate in Jamtara, close to the Bengal border.

Soren is accused of inciting a mob that killed 10 people in an attack on the houses of money lenders in Chirrudih village in Jamtara in 1975.

“Though the court orders have been given, the warrant would formally be issued only on Monday to the police to produce Soren before the court,” public prosecutor A.K. Mahato told The Telegraph.

Sources close to Soren, who is in Delhi, said he could move the court for anticipatory bail.

The BJP, which has been targeting the Centre on “tainted ministers”, asked the Prime Minister to take a stand on the warrant. The JMM and the Congress responded by accusing the BJP of hatching “a conspiracy”.

Police sources said the warrant would be sent to the Hazaribagh superintendent of police for execution as Soren has been described as a “resident of Hazaribagh” in the FIR.

A controversial element in the case is whether Soren could be described as an “absconder” or not — a status that could play a key role if Soren has no option but to surrender and seek bail.

Records related to Soren and nine others had gone missing and the JMM leader’s camp has been saying that he was never served a warrant.

But the public prosecutor contested this. “On June 5, 1986, the then sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Noel Lakra, had issued warrants for the arrest of Soren. The fresh directive is in continuation of the earlier order,” Mahato claimed.

If the claim is true, Soren will have difficulty in getting bail as such relief is not granted to “absconders”, legal experts said.