Shahabuddin gets Supreme Court notice on bail

The Supreme Court agreed to hear next week a plea seeking the quashing of a Patna high court order granting bail to RJD leader Shahabuddin.

The don-turned-politician had got bail in the murder case of a person who had witnessed the gruesome killing of his two younger siblings in Bihar’s Siwan.

The apex court did not stay the high court’s order, but asked Shahabuddin to respond to the plea of Siwan resident Chandrakeshwar Prasad whose three sons were killed in two separate incidents.

Keeping coalition compulsions aside, the RJD-backed Nitish Kumar government also sought a non-bailable warrant against Shahabuddin.

Shahabuddin was granted bail in the murder case of Rajiv Roshan, Prasad's son who was the sole eye-witness to the murder of his brothers.

The RJD leader was awarded life imprisonment in the twin murder case, while the trial in the Roshan murder case is yet to commence.

Shahabuddin who came out of jail after 11 years has about 50 criminal cases pending against him. He has been convicted in eight.