SC to hear petition against Shahabuddin's bail on Monday

The Supreme Court will hear on Monday a plea by a Siwan resident seeking cancellation of bail granted to former RJD MP Mohamed Shahabuddin on the ground that the strongman-turned-politician would misuse his liberty to derail the trial in the murder of his son Rajiv Roshan.

Meanwhile, the Bihar government too has moved the apex court challenging the grant of bail to Shahabuddin.

The court agreed to hear on Monday the plea for the cancellation of bail after counsel Prashant Bhushan mentioned the matter before the bench of Chief Justice T.S.Thakur and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar.

Bhushan, appearing for Siwan resident Chandrakeshwar Prasad whose three sons - two in a twin murder case in 2004 and one later in 2014 - were allegedly killed by Shahabuddin's henchmen, told the bench that release of Shahabuddin would pose a serious threat to people.

Seeking the immediate stay of the bail and its eventual cancellation, Prasad, in his petition, has said that if the bail to Shahabuddin was not stayed, "irreparable injury is going to cause to the interest of the present trial as well as other pending cases".

Pointing out that that there was a "serious threat" his life and that of his family members, Prasad has told the court that "earlier also it has been seen that witnesses are too scared to depose against him and they turn hostile".

The Patna High Court had on September 7 released Shahabuddin on bail on the grounds that there was no progress in the trial of the case involving the murder of Rajiv Roshan. In the case, the Siwan strongman was shown as arrested on November 27, 2014.

Assailing the high court order granting bail, Prasad in his petition said that Shahabuddin is a "dreaded criminal, who has absolutely no regard for the law, and granting bail to him in the present case would let him come out of the jail as a free man even though he is still facing trial in many of the cases lodged against him".

He said that apart from the case of the murder of third son Rajiv Roshan, Shahabuddin was allegedly involved "in at least 58 criminal cases of which in at least 8 he has been convicted".

"Further, apparently, till November, 2014, at least 27 trials before magistrates and 11 trials before the sessions courts were pending against him. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment in at least two cases including in the case of twin murder," the petition reads.

Describing Shahabuddin as a hardened criminal, it said: "Allowing an accused like him to be released (on) a regular bail, especially when witnesses in the present case are yet to depose, merely on the ground that he has been in custody for about two years and trial is yet to commence is nothing but travesty of justice."

Apart from granting Shahabuddin bail in the Rajiv Roshan murder case, the high court had granted him bail in March in the twin murder case involving the two younger brothers. However, he was not released as he was under arrest in the Rajiv Roshan murder case.

--IANS

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