Ranchi, March 3 (IANS) Former union minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren, serving a life imprisonment term for murder, will be shifted to a hospital in Ranchi after he complained of chest pain.

Soren, who is presently lodged in Dumka Central Jail, has not been keeping well.

The JMM chief is serving life imprisonment after he was convicted in December last year for involvement in the 1994 murder of his personal secretary Shashinath Jha. He was convicted by the Tis Hazari Court of New Delhi and brought to Jharkhand for trial in another murder case.

A medical board checked Soren and referred him to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi.

"We have taken permission from the Jamtara district court to shift Soren to RIMS for better treatment," an official told IANS.

Due to his ill health, Soren could not appear in the Jamtara court during the last four hearings. The court constituted a medical board to examine his condition. It found that his health was deteriorating and suggested that he be shifted to RIMS.

Soren was brought in January from New Delhi to be produced in the Jamtara district court, which is hearing the 1975 Chirudih massacre case relating to the killing of 11 people, including nine Muslims. Soren is accused of inciting a mob to kill the people.

A third murder case trial against Soren is also under progress in the Giridih district court.