Back in jail, Shahabuddin sends Nitish a warning

NEW DELHI: RJD strongman Mohammad Shahabuddin was back in jail on Friday after the Supreme Court cancelled his bail in a murder case that saw him hit out at chief minister Nitish Kumar, saying his supporters would “teach him a lesson”.

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Hours after the apex court order, Shahabuddin, who walked out of jail on September 7, came pillion riding a motorcycle with face hidden under a helmet and surrendered in a Siwan court in Bihar. He was sent to custody for 14 days.

“My supporters will teach him (Kumar) a lesson in the next election,” Shahabuddin said, as his supporters clapped in court premises.

The release of the gangster-turned-politician, who was in jail for more than 10 years in multiple cases, had raised questions over the Kumar-led government’s commitment to law and order in the state.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal is part of the ruling coalition in Bihar and Shahabuddin, who represented Siwan in the Lok Sabha for four successive terms between 1996 and 2008, is close to party chief Lalu Prasad.

Earlier in the day, the SC set aside a Patna high court order granting Shahabuddin bail and ordered him to surrender. “It appears to us that the high court has erred in granting bail to the respondent-accused without taking into consideration the overall facts… we are thus unable to sustain the impugned order of the HC granting bail to him,” it said.

The Bihar government and an old couple, whose three sons were allegedly murdered by Shahabuddin, had challenged the bail. The HC had ignored the fact that Rajiv Roshan, who was shot dead in 2014, was a witness to the twin murder of his brothers, they said. The brothers were killed in 2004 and Roshan was murdered few days before he was to record his evidence. Shahabuddin was given bail on the ground that the trial would take a long time.

The apex court was critical of the state government’s handling of the murder case. “…if charge sheet, has not been submitted in one-and-half years. Is it not duty of prosecution to furnish a copy to accused?” it asked the Bihar government. Shahabuddin’s lawyer accused the state government of delaying the trial, saying his client was not given the charge sheet.

The Bihar government told the SC that 75 criminal cases were registered against Shahabuddin. Of these, he was convicted in 10, acquitted in 20 and trial was pending in 45. In most of the pending cases, the trial was stayed by HC.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared on behalf of Chandrakeshwar Prasad, the father of the three murdered men, told the court that of the 45 cases, nine were of murder.

(With agency inputs)