Ex-MP Shahabuddin gets life for acid-bath murder of brothers
COURT DELIVERS JUDGEMENT IN 11-YEAR TRIAL, TERMING IT THE ‘RAREST OF RARE CASES’
Lata Rani
Former parliamentarian and once close aide of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mohammad Shahabuddin was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court in Bihar for murdering two brothers by giving them an acid bath about a decade ago.
This is the second time in the past few years that Shahabuddin has been sentenced to life imprisonment in a case of kidnapping and murder.
Additional District Judge of Siwan special court Ajay Kumar Srivastava pronounced the judgement, terming it as the “rarest of rare case”. The court also imposed life terms on three of his associates on similar charges.
The judgement comes two days after the court convicted former parliamentarian now languishing in jail, along with his associates — Rajkumar Sah, Shaikh Aslam and Arif Hussain — for killing the brothers in cold blood and also destroying the evidence after the crime.
Despite serious efforts, the police were never able to recover the bodies, the court said.
The victim’s side, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the court’s judgement saying they wanted capital punishment. “We honour the court judgement, but it would have been fair if the murderers of my sons were awarded death,” said Chandra Keshwar Prasad, father of victim sons.
Sentence to be challenged
Shahabuddin’s lawyer Abhay Kumar Rajan said they would challenge the court judgement in the upper court. “We maintain Shahabuddin was in jail on the day of the murder … No jail official has been named. So, how can it be proved that my client was not in jail on the day of the murder?” asked Rajan.
Shahabuddin’s wife Heena Shahab said she would knock on the doors of the High Court for justice.
According to the police records, on the fateful day three sons of local businessman Chandra Keshwar Prasad were kidnapped from their home in Siwan district by three accomplices of Shahabuddin and taken to Pratappur village where two of them were killed in cold blood by pouring acid on them. Pratappur is the native village of Shahabuddin. Despite repeated efforts, the bodies of the victims could not be recovered by the police. The third kidnapped victim, though, somehow managed to escape and save his life.
Later, a case of murder was registered with the local police by the victims’ mother Kalawati Devi, charging Shahabuddin’s three henchmen with the murder of her sons. Officials said initially Shahabuddin was not made an accused in the case but during the course of investigation, his name cropped up and he too was made an accused for hatching a conspiracy to kidnap the three siblings.
We maintain that Shahabuddin was in jail on the day of murder … No jail official has been named. So, how can it be proved that my client was not in jail on the day of the murder?”
A.K. Rajan | Shahabuddin’s lawyer
Surviving brother
The lone surviving brother appeared before the judge as an eyewitness in the case, but was subsequently murdered by unidentified assailants in June 16 last year.
Dreaded gangster-turnedpolitician Shahabuddin has been cooling his heels in a local jail for over a decade in connection with some 40 criminal cases pending against him, such as murder, kidnapping, theft, violation of the Foreign Exchange Act and treason.
He has already been sentenced to life in connection with the kidnapping and murder of a Communist Party of India (Marxist-Lenninist) leader, along with a 10-year imprisonment for possessing illegal arms and ammunition, as well as three years of rigorous imprisonment in a case of vehicle theft.