SC notice to Lalu’s son, Shahabuddin

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday asked RJD chief Lalu Yadav’s son and Bihar health minister Tej Pratap Yadav and gangster-turned-politician Moahmmad Shahabuddin to respond to a petition seeking transfer of slain journalist Rajdev Ranjan’s murder case from the state to Delhi.

In her petition, Ranjan’s wife Asha Ranjan has said that she did not expect justice in the case as after Shahabuddin’s release the alleged killers were seen in the company of the RJD leader and the health minister. In support of her plea, the petitioner referred to photographs showing the two leaders with the alleged shooter that were splashed in various sections of the newspapers.

“Those who hold positions in party and executive do not think for a second before attaching themselves to such anti-social elements and even render assistance,” a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra noted when Ranjan’s advocate Kisley Pandey made the court aware of the politico-criminal nexus working in Bihar.

It also issued notice to Bihar government and the CBI that took over the probe earlier this month.

Ordering the state to provide police protection to the petitioner and her family living in Siwan, the bench fixed October 17 to hear the petition. It asked the CBI to submit a status report of its investigation in the matter.

“If the police is deliberately not arresting Mohammad Kaif and the health minister is taking photographs with proclaimed offenders, the life of Rajdeo Ranjan’s wife and her two minor children is at stake,” Asha said in her petition, accusing Shahabuddin of being involved in her husband’s murder in May this year.

Meanwhile, Tej Pratap Yadav reiterated his stand that public representatives get snapped with hundreds of people and there was no way for them to know the credentials of each.

Ranjan, the bureau chief of the Hindi daily Hindustan, was shot dead in Bihar’s Siwan district. Five shots were fired at him from extremely close range near Siwan’s railway station.

The alleged shooter Kaif surrendered to the police this week after the case was filed in the top court. He was spotted with Shahabuddin after the latter was released on bail.