Supreme Court seeks Shahabuddin's response on pleas against grant of bail

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has asked RJD strongman M Shahabuddin to give reasons as to why his bail should not be cancelled, after the Bihar government said that it was not heard before he was freed and a plea from a Siwan resident who said he was a “history-sheeter” who created a “reign of terror” and was “beyond reform.”

A bench, comprising Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Amitava Roy set a 1-week deadline for the four-time RJD MP to respond to the notice. The nature of the allegations may have prompted the court to reduce the deadline to a week from the normal 4-week response time.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for the Siwan resident whose 3 sons were murdered. He said that he was “shocked” by the Patna High Court decision to grant him bail despite police record that he was a “Class A historysheeter, which means that he was beyond reform.” He claimed that Shahabuddin had let loose a reign of terror in Siwan.

Such was his clout that he ran his empire from behind bars, Bhushan argued. He met influential politicians with ease and operated with cell phones that were seized from his possession. Bhushan sought transfer of the investigation as well as trial from Bihar to Delhi, saying the latter could be held through video-conferencing.