SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, April 6: The Special court of MP-MLA due to lack of witnesses exonerated Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Giridih MLA Sudivya Kumar Sonu of an 11-year-old murder charge of four labourers in his factory.
Special judicial magistrate of MP-MLA Special Court Sweta Kumari had on the previous date (March 29) directed the prosecutor to produce the witness in court on the next date of hearing (on April 6).
The court started hearing the case today but the prosecutor failed to produce the witness. The court, after hearing defence lawyer Shahnaz Alam, exonerated the JMM MLA, who was also present in the court, of the murder charge.
On the previous date (March 29), the defence lawyers had appealed to the court for closure of the case in a lack of facts. But the assistant public prosecutor Haresh Ram opposed it and demanded the continuation of the trial. The court then asked him to produce the witness.
Four labourers had died on July 19, 2011, in the Vinayak Iron and Steel Coke Private Limited Majhiladih (Giridih) when hot ash of hard coke fell on them. They were admitted to the Bokaro General Hospital (BGH) but during treatment, they succumbed to injury after six days on July 25.
The factory belonged to the then JMM leader Sudivya Kumar. On the complaint of the then Giridih factory inspector Ratan Khes, the police had filed an FIR against Sudivya.
In the 2019 assembly election, Sudivya was elected from the Giridih Sadar constituency and his case was transferred to the MP- MLA Special Court of Dhanbad.
