HC admits Shahabu'splea against conviction

Patna: A division bench of Patna high court comprising acting chief justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and Justice Chakradhari Saran Singh on Friday admitted the criminal appeal of former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin challenging the award of life imprisonment to him by a Siwan court in connection with the murder of two brothers 11 years ago in Siwan district.
Shahabuddin had filed the criminal appeal on January 17, 2016.His counsel had moved a prayer for bail, but the court had observed that it could be done only after perusal of the lower court's records.
Earlier, a special Siwan court, on December 10, 2015, had convicted Shahabuddin in the 2004 murder case in which two brothers, sons of a Siwan businessman, were drenched in acid and killed. The special court had called it a rarest of rare case. Additional district judge, Siwan, Ajay Kumar Srivastava had awarded life sentence to Shahabuddin and his three accomplices - Rajkumar Sah, Sheikh Aslam and Arif Hussain - in connection with the case.
The Siwan court had found the four guilty of charges under Sections 302 (murder), 364A (kidnapping for ransom etc), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on Shahabuddin in the case.
The case pertained to alleged abduction and consequent murder of two brothers - Girish and Satish - in August 2004 by Shahabuddin's supporters after a prolonged tiff with the duo's father, Chandrakeshwar Prasad alias Chanda Babu, over possession of his shops in the main Siwan market.