Court frames charges against Shahabuddin in law exam case

MUZAFFARPUR: A court in Muzaffarpur district framed charges against controversial Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Mohammad Shahabuddin on Monday in a case pertaining to his “appearance” at LLB examination while at large in 2005.

The court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate Shailendra Kumar Rai framed the charges against Shahabuddin, a former Lok Sabha member from Siwan, after finding sufficient evidence against him. However, Shahabuddin, through video conferencing from Tihar Jail in Delhi, where he is currently lodged, denied the allegations.

Earlier, an FIR was registered in October 2005 against Shahabuddin and 20 others after investigations revealed that somebody else had appeared on behalf of Shahabuddin in the LLB part-2 examination, conducted by Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bihar University (BRABU). Among the accused were Mohammad Tauheed Alam, principal of RDS College, Muzaffarpur, where the examination was held, and principal of SKJ Law College Jayant Kumar.

The examination was conducted between September 21 and 29, 2005, a time when Shahabuddin was on the run in the wake of non-bailable arrest warrants against him in connection with the seizure of illegal firearms, and unaccounted foreign currency, and stolen vehicles from him. He was also indicted in the poaching of a deer.

Later, Firoz Alam, who was arrested in 2006, confessed in an affidavit submitted in the court that he wrote the test for Shahabuddin, following a promise that he would be paid ₹20,000.

Shahabuddin, who was shifted from Siwan Jail in Bihar to Tihar Jail in February 2017 on the orders of the Supreme Court, is facing trial in 45 criminal cases.

The top court’s order came on the pleas by Siwan-based Chandrakeshwar Prasad, whose three sons were killed in two separate incidents, and Asha Ranjan, the wife of journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, who was murdered in Siwan.