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Shahabuddin: A man of crime, politics and manipulations
PATNA: Mohammad Shahabuddin, the former Lok Sabha MP who was released from prison on bail after 11 years, was first charged by the police in 1986 and allegedly began
PATNA: Mohammad Shahabuddin, the former Lok Sabha MP who was released from prison on bail after 11 years, was first charged by the police in 1986 and allegedly began a criminal career when he was a college student.
Shahabuddin soon used his criminal antecedent as a shortcut to politics. He was elected as an MLA in 1990 on a ticket he got from Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad. Five years later, he again became a legislator. From 1996, he went on to become a parliamentarian four times. His 2004 Lok Sabha contest was from jail.
In May 2007, Shahabuddin was convicted of kidnapping a far-Left activist Ch hot e Lal Gupta, who was missing for nine years then. The life imprisonment for “abducting with an intent to murder” jeopardised the R JD leader’ s political career, as law bar red people sentenced to two years in jail from contesting polls.
In all, Shahabuddin faces around 40 criminal cases, including those of abduction and murder. For 11 years till Saturday, he remained imprisoned, having been shifted three times in jails in Bhagalpur and Gaya. The release on bail follows a court order.
According to sources, judgment has come in 12 cases involving Shahabuddin. He was acquitted in four, while he has nearly completed his sentence in eight other cases. Shahabuddin has been convicted in 10 other cases, while in some cases the trial is yet to complete.
It was this Wednesday the Patna HC granted him bail in a case involving the murder of a witness in the killing of Girish and Satish Raj by drenching the Siwan brothers in acid and shooting them.
Nine years ago, Shahabuddin was convicted in May 8, 2007, by a special court that gave him lifer for the abduction of CPI (ML) worker Chhote Lal Gupta in February 1999. Gupta was never seen thereafter and was widely presumed to have been killed.
In his heyday, Shahabuddin fought elections with practically no opposition. The locals lowered their voice when they talked about their ‘Sahab’, while the doctors in the area cut down consultation fee to Rs 50 at his tacit messages.
On August 30,2007, Shahabuddin was found guilty of attacking Siwan SP Sanjiv Kumar Singhal. He faces a term of 10 years in the case. Shahabuddin continued to wield clout — from behind bars. In 2014, RJD president Lalu Prasad gave ticket to his wife Heena Shahab from Siwan for a second time even though she badly lost the 2009 polls. She was later speculated to be nominated to the state legislative council.
