Slain Bihar scribe's wife 'got second threat call from Dubai'

Slain journalist Rajdeo Ranjan's wife Asha Ranjan has allegedly received life threats again over the case she has filed against former RJD MP and strongman from Siwan Mohmmad Shahabuddin in connection with the killing of her husband.

This is second time she has received a phone call from Dubai, asking her to withdraw the case against the former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP in the Supreme Court, failing which she and her children would be cut into pieces.

Asha Ranjan lodged an FIR on Friday in connection with the threats.

"In her FIR, Asha Ranjan has stated that she received a phone call from Dubai late on Thursday night, threatening her to withdraw the case against Shahabuddin in the Supreme Court," said Assistant Superintendent of Police Arvind Kumar Gupta.

Gupta said she is frightened ever since she received the threat a second time and is demanding security.

Only a few days ago, she had lodged an FIR after receiving the first threat call from Dubai on December 26.

The scribe's widow had moved the apex court seeking transfer of the probe and trial of her husband's murder case to Delhi from Siwan, as she feared a free and fair trial against Shahabuddin was not possible if he was lodged in a Bihar jail.

Shahabuddin is currently lodged in Siwan jail after the apex court had, on September 30, cancelled his bail after hearing the two petitions filed by the Bihar government and lawyer Prashant Bhushan on behalf of the slain scribe's family.

The Bihar government had, on May 16, within three days of the murder, handed over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Her husband Rajdeo, who was the Siwan bureau chief of a noted Hindi daily, was shot dead on May 13 at a busy fruit market near Siwan railway station.

--IANS

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