Former RJD MP Shahabuddin gets bail, says I won’t change my image

Patna: Former Member of Parliament of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Mohammad Shahabuddin, has been released on bail from Patna jail after eleven years on Saturday. He was serving life sentence in Siwan jail after being convicted for the murder of Rajiv Raushan. Shahabuddin was granted bail by the Patna High Court.

After the release, Shahabuddin clarifierd, that the jail term and release have nothing to do with the politics. It was solely in the domain of judiciary, he stated.

“We all know I was framed. But it was Court who jailed me, Court has released me. This has got nothing to do with politics, judicial has its own procedures,” said the former MP.

Shahabuddin, who possesses an image of a criminal turned politician, said, “Why would I try to change my image? People have accepted me the way I am for 26 years.”

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The case:

• Shahabuddin was accused of hiring sharp shooters to kill Raushan as he was the key witness of the killings of Satish Raj and Girish Raj, sons of a businessman, who were abducted, acid attacked and assassinated on August 16, 2004 in Siwan. It was found that the brothers, on Shahabuddin’s orders, were drenched in acid.
• In May 2007, Shahabuddin was found guilty in a case of ‘abducting with intent to murder’and was banned from contesting any subsequent elections.
• The quantum of sentence was delivered to him by special court judge Ajay Kumar Srivastava, on December 11, 2015 under IPC sections 302 (Murder), 364A (Kidnapping with the intension of murder), 201 (efforts to wipe out evidence) and 120B (conspiracy for murder).
• The other three accused, Raj Kumar Sah, Sheikh Aslam and Arif Hussain, had been held guilty of the same offences.

About Mohammad Shahabuddin:

• Mohammad Shabuddin is a criminal turned politician. He was elected four times as a MP from Siwan, Bihar on the ticket of Lalu Prasad Yadav led RJD.
• Being convicted in many criminal cases, he was debarred from contesting the 2009 general elections.