Ex-Siwan MP Shahabuddin found guilty of abducting, killing 2 brothers
A local court in Bihar’s Siwan on Wednesday found former RJD parliamentarian and strongman Mohammad Shahabuddin guilty of abducting and killing two brothers in 2004.
RJD MP Mohammed Shahabuddin and three others are guilty of abducting and murdering two brothers by pouring acid on them 11 years ago, a special court in Siwan pronounced on Wednesday.
Shahabuddin, Rajkumar Sah, Sheikh Aslam and Arif Hussain were held guilty of murder, kidnapping, causing disappearance of evidence and criminal conspiracy by additional district judge Ajay Kumar Srivastava, and the quantum of punishment will be pronounced on December 11.
Three sons of Chandrashekhar Prasad, a political opponent of the MP, were abducted from their house on Goshala Road by Sah, Aslam and Hussain on August 16, 2004 and taken to Pratappur village where acid was poured on two of the brothers, Girish and Satish, the prosecution said.
Both of them died as a result of the attack while the third brother, Rajeev Bhushan, managed to escape. The bodies of Girish and Satish were never recovered.
The lone surviving brother appeared in court as an eyewitness in the case, but was subsequently murdered by unidentified assailants on June 16 last year.
The victims’ mother, Kalawati Devi, had lodged an FIR charging Shahabuddin’s three henchmen with the murder of her sons.
The former RJD MP’s name cropped up during the probe and he was also made an accused in the case for hatching the conspiracy to kidnap the three brothers.
Shahabuddin has been in jail for the past seven years in connection with several cases against him. His lawyer Abhay Kumar Rajan said there had been no movement in the case for lack of witnesses or proof and the verdict was surprising, adding that it would be challenged in a superior court. Another eyewitness in the case had gone missing earlier.
Meanwhile, given his past crimes and the political clout that the MP wields, security has been stepped up in the city. Soon after the verdict, hundreds of supporters of Shahabuddin started gathering to show support outside the Siwan district jail, where the MP has been in incarceration for seven years.
Director general of police, PK Thakur, said a close watch was being kept on the situation and security had been tightened around the jail and in the city.
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