A few hours after the development, Bihar government too moved the apex court with its appeal against the High Court order, saying the state was not properly heard and the history-sheeter granted relief keeping all previous concerns of the court about security and safety of witnesses at bay.
A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice A M Khanwilkar accepted the first plea for urgent hearing on September 19 after it was mentioned by advocate Prashant Bhushan, on behalf of Chandrakeshwar Prasad alias Chanda Babu of Siwan, whose three sons were murdered allegedly at the behest of the controversial politician.
Separately, Bihar government standing counsel Gopal Singh elaborated the grounds and said the High Court had failed to follow its own order of February asking the trial court to preferably complete the trial of the Rajiv Roshan murder case within nine months.
The state government also said the High Court ignored the crucial aspect brought by it earlier that key witnesses did not turn up to depose in these cases due to fear and the clout wielded by the dreaded gangster, who before pronouncement of judgement in the murder case of Prasad's two sons, allegedly conspired from the jail to eliminate his third son, Rajiv Roshan, the prime witness in the case.
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In his plea, CXhandrakeshwar Prasad said the Patna High
Court's September 7 order granting regular bail to Shahabuddin "suffers from total non-application of mind" as it had "completely lost sight of the facts that Respondent No 2 (Shahabuddin) is a dreaded criminal, who has absolutely no regard for the law, and granting bail to him would let him come out of the jail as a free man even though he is still facing trial in many of the cases lodged against him."
"The deceased was an eye-witness in Siwan (Muffasil) PS. Case No. 131/04 relating to the ghastly killing of his two young brothers aged 23 and 18 years respectively by Shahabuddin who has already been convicted in the said twin murder case and sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2015 by the trial court for the charge of abduction-cum- -murder," the plea filed by father of all three deceased said.
It said Shahabuddin, who has been four-time MP from Siwan, has been apparently booked in at least 58 criminal cases of which in at least 8 he has been convicted.
It said the High Court had passed a cryptic order without taking note of relevant factors which should have been taken into consideration while dealing with the application for bail of a history-sheeter like Shahabuddin.
"The High Court, while granting bail, has unfortunately been influenced by the facts that Md. Sahabuddin has been shifted from Siwan to Bhagalpur Jail for six months, hence, the trial is not likely to commence in near future. The High Court, while recording the aforementioned facts, however did not consider the circumstances under which the said shifting order was issued," it said.
reportedly 40 phones were seized. Some of the sim cards were found to be on fake names.
"It was found that regular visitors including important politicians were visiting Respondent No. 2 (Shahabuddin) inside the jail without any valid permission. Considering the influence of Respondent No. 2, demand was made for an independent investigation and thus, the investigation of the murder of the journalist was handed over to the CBI.
"Further, as it was found that Respondent No. 2, even while inside the Siwan jail, has been able to manipulate or influence activities outside jail, an order dated May 20, 2016 was issued by the State Government for transferring him from Siwan to Bhagalpur Jail for six months," the plea said.
In August 2004, Girish, Satish and their eldest brother Rajiv Roshan, the three sons of the petitioner, were picked up by henchmen of the gangster and taken to his native village Pratappur, where they were drenched in acid.
Two days ago, wife of slain scribe Rajdev Ranjan had also moved apex court seeking transfer of the probe and trial in the murder case to Delhi from Siwan in Bihar, alleging that media reports have shown two absconding killers of her husband in the company of recently-released RJD leader Shahabuddin and Bihar Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav.
She has sought reliefs including a direction to CBI, to which probe has been transferred, to take up the probe forthwith in view of the fact that the proclaimed offenders, Mohd Kaif and Mohd Javed, were spotted with Shahabuddin and the Minister at a place where several cops were also present.