He is just above 49 years of age and had been elected to lok Sabha four times and to Bihar Assembly twice. He is also facing a barrage of criminal cases in different courts but after the bail in one of the most sensational cases from Patna High Court, the decks are cleared for the release of the infamous political don Mohammad Shahabuddin from jail. After spending about 11 years behind bars, the RJD leader is expected to step out a free man very soon.
The former MP of Siwan and RJD leader was granted bail on Wednesday by Justice Jitendra Mohan Sharma in the case related to the murder of one Rajiv Roshan in Siwan in June 2014. Roshan was elder brother of Girish Raj and Satish Raj and was an eye witness to the killing of his two brothers with acid in 2004. They were sons of a Siwan trader Chandra Keshwar Prasad alias Chanda Babu.
Shahabuddin’s lawyer YV Giri said, “My client will be a free man. There is no more case pending against him.” A few months back he had been shifted from Siwan to Bhagalpur jail. Incidentally, the same judge had denied bail to him in the same case only six months back.
The RJD leader, who once terrorised Siwan by running a parallel administration, had been arrested from Delhi in November 2005. He is facing 26 criminal cases which are pending for final hearing in the court of judicial magistrate. But he has got bail in all those cases. Ten more cases are pending in the Court of Session Judge but had been granted bail in those cases too. He got bail in three other cases registered in other districts.
He was granted bail in connection with the murder of two brothers by a division bench of high court in March last as his counsel pleaded that his client’s name was included in the list of accused person after more than five years of the incident.
The conviction of Shahabuddin in some cases took away his right to contest election and lost his membership of lok Sabha. He could not contest general elections in 2009 and 2014 and RJD had fielded his wife Hena Shahab from Siwan seat which she lost both the times.
Despite his conviction and remaining behind bars for a longer time, RJD supremo lalu Prasad included Shahabuddin in the party’s newly constituted national executive in April last triggering a row in the political circles with opposition blaming lalu for patronising criminals. After the change of political equation in Bihar following alliance between JD(U) and RJD, there had been speculations in the political circles that the RJD strongman might be out of prison very soon.
While languishing in jail, Shahabuddin remained in controversy for various reasons; the recent was pictures showing him meeting with a Bihar Minister and some MlAs in the chamber of Siwan jail superintendent. After his name cropped up in the murder of a Siwan based journalist, when the SP visited jail he was shocked to find a crowd waiting to meet Shahabuddin who reportedly had been holding darbar twice a week to listen the public grievances. After that he had been shifted to Bhagalpur central jail.
BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi cried foul over the bail to RJD strongman and alleged that the Government under a conspiracy cleared decks for his release. “Will lalu and Nitish Kumar will share dais with the symbol of jungle rajIJ” he wondered.