Supreme Court cancels Shahabuddin''s bail

R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, September 30

The Supreme Court on Friday cancelled the bail granted to gangster-turned RJD leader Mohd Shahabuddin by the Patna High Court and directed the Bihar government to arrest and put him back in jail immediately.

A Bench comprising Justices PC Ghose and Amitava Roy set aside the September 7 bail order, holding that the High Court had failed to take note of the 60-odd criminal cases pending against Shahabuddin, who had been an MLA four times and an MP twice.

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Earlier, the Court had grilled the state government for letting Shahabuddin come out of jail by getting bail in so many, and then seeking to put him back behind the bars.

“You came out of slumber” after Shahabuddin was finally out of jail despite the fact that he was sentenced to life in two cases and awarded a cumulative jail term of another 30 years in eight other cases, the Bench had told the state.

Despite remaining in jail since 2005, Shahabuddin kept on committing heinous crimes which indicated the extent of his influence over criminal elements in Siwan district and in other parts of the state, Bihar had pleaded.

Arguing for another petitioner Chandrakeshwar Prasad, whose three sons were allegedly murdered by Shahabuddin, senior counsel Prashant Bhushan pleaded that he should be sent to Tihar Jail here and the trial in about 25 pending cases be conducted through video conferencing.