Controversial RJD leader Shahabuddin could be in for trouble as Supreme Court today agreed to hear next week a plea seeking quashing of a Patna High Court order granting him bail in the murder of a person who had witnessed the gruesome killing of his two younger siblings at Siwan in Bihar.
The apex court, which for the present did not allow the interim prayer for stay on operation of Patna High Court’s bail order asked Shahabuddin, against whom 58 criminal cases were pending in 2014, to respond to the plea of Siwan-based Chandrakeshwar Prasad whose three sons were killed in two separate incidents.
Keeping coalition compulsions aside, the Nitish Kumar-led government went a step ahead of Prasad’s plea and sought issuance of non-bailable warrant (NBW), against the RJD strongman who has termed Kumar as “Chief Minister of circumstances” on his release from Bhagalpur jail recently.
A bench of Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy, which heard advocate Prashant Bhushan and Bihar government’s plea for nearly an hour, however said “we intend to give him a hearing also”.
“Issue notice on the Special Leave Petition as also on the prayer for interim relief seeking stay of the impugned Order dated September 7, 2016 passed by the High Court of Patna, returnable on Monday, the September 26,” it said.
Bhushan, appearing for Prasad also known as Chanda Babu, said Shahabuddin was a “notorious criminal” and his reign of terror was “in Bihar in general and in Siwan in particular”.
“As per the affidavit filed by Bihar government in 2014 in another case, there are 58 criminal cases pending against Shahabuddin and out of them he has been convicted in eight cases. In two of the cases, he was awarded life sentence by a trial court,” he said.
Shahabuddin had been granted bail recently by the High Court in the murder case of Rajiv Roshan, Prasad’s son who was the sole eye-witness to the cold-blooded murder of his two younger brothers in Siwan.
The RJD leader has already been convicted and awarded life imprisonment in the twin murder case, while the trial in the Roshan murder case is yet to commence.
Bhushan said the High Court considered the fact that the trial in Roshan murder case could not begin as Shahabuddin was jailed at Bhagalpur prison and enlarged him on bail.
( Source – PTI )
