A division bench of the Apex Court, comprising of Justice S Saghir Ahmad and Justice R P Sethi, issued a notice to the CBI, after the counsel for the accused claimed that his client was on bail and has not violated any of the conditions imposed on him by the Trial Court. The counsel, senior advocate O P Rana, contended that the main accused in the case, Shibu Soren, was at present lodged in Tihar jail in judicial custody and as investigations were complete, there was no necessity of arresting Khaware.

Trial Court Judge Ajit Bharihoke on March 26 had issued fresh arrest warrants against Khaware in the case pertaining to the alleged abduction and murder of Soren's secretary Shashi Nath Jha in May 1994.

Besides Khaware, Soren, Ashish Thakur, Nand KishoreMehta, Ajay Kumar Mehta, Pashupati Nath Mehta and Shailendra Bhattacharya are facing trial in the case. The Trial Court had framed charges against the accused under Section 120 B (conspiracy), read with 364 (abduction) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to the CBI, Jha was abducted from Dhaula Kuan area of the Capital on May 22, 1994 and taken to Piska Nagari Village near Ranchi, where he was murdered. In the chargesheet, the CBI had alleged that Jha was ``killed'' as he had knowledge of the alleged deal between the JMM and the then prime minister Narasimha Rao to save the Congress Government during the July 1993 vote of confidence and was demanding his share of money in the deal.

Soren is also facing trial in the JMM MPs' bribery case, along with others, for allegedly accepting huge sums of money to vote against the no-confidence motion tabled in Parliament against the Rao Government.

The Jha murder case was registered on June 2, 1994 with the Parliament Street police stationhere on a complaint lodged by Amar Nath Jha, elder brother of the victim.

The probe into the matter was transferred to CBI on the orders of the High Court on a petition filed by Jha's mother Priyambada Devi, accusing the police of improper investigation.