SC to continue hearing on transfer of Shahabuddin to Tihar Jail

Shahabuddin was granted bail by the Patna High Court on September 7

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will continue hearing the plea regarding the shifting of RJD strongman Mohammad Shahabuddin from Siwan jail in Bihar to Tihar Central Jail in the national capital.

The Bihar government has told the Supreme Court that it is not averse to the shifting of Shahabuddin.

The state government, in which the RJD is a coalition partner, concurred with stand of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which has already agreed to the suggestion of the Supreme Court that the alleged criminal be shifted to Delhi as his continuous presence in Bihar may adversely impact trials in various pending cases against him.

The Supreme Court division bench, headed by Justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy will take up the matter for further hearing today at 2 pm.

On Tuesday, counsel for Chandrakeshwar told the court that how influential Shahabuddin was. He committed offences even while he was in jail and on bail on various occasions.

Another petitioner, slain journalist Rajdeo Ranjan's widow Asha Ranjan, had filed a plea in the apex court seeking to shift Shahabuddin from the Siwan to Delhi so that witnesses in her husband's murder case could not be influenced and also sought the safety and security of her family members.

Shahabuddin, who had been in jail for more than 10 years in connection with multiple cases, was granted bail by the Patna High Court on September 7 in connection with the murder of a man who witnessed the killing of two brothers in Siwan.

Forty-two-year-old Ranjan, the bureau chief of The Hindustan, was shot dead in July this year at Phal Mandi near the Siwan railway station, barely half-a-kilometre from the police station.

The Bihar Government had then recommended the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) to probe the case.