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Jitendra K Shrivastava
After Lalu Prasad-led RJD returned to power in Bihar last year, Mohammad Shahabuddin, the party’s former MP from Siwan, who is a murder convict, reportedly set up his ‘darbar’ at the Siwan jail.
Shahabuddin is facing at least 42 criminal cases for murder, kidnap and extortion. His influence over the government can be gauged from the fact that Minority Welfare Minister Abdul Gafoor met him in the jail and had refreshments with him. A journalist associated with a vernacular daily, Rajdev Ranjan, was shot dead recently. It is believed that Shahabuddin plotted the execution.
After the murder, Shahabuddin was shifted to the Bhagalpur jail and during the process was reportedly given a VIP treatment. This invited criticism from the Opposition. A CBI inquiry into the killing was ordered. One Ladan Mian, an aide of Shahabuddin, is said to have given the contract for killing the scribe. He has been arrested.
For good or for bad, Shahabuddin reigns the hearts of the residents of Siwan. The poor seem to have complete faith in getting justice in Shahabuddin’s court as they perceive him as some kind of a Robin Hood. “Saheb’s imprisonment has hampered Siwan’s development. When released, he will expedite the work. He has been incarcerated in a false and fabricated case,” claims Shahabuddin’s octogenarian father SM Ashibullah, adding that whenever people need Saheb’s advice, they visit him in jail.
“We have more faith in Saheb than the government machinery. Our economy depends on foreign income as most villagers work in the Gulf countries. Any problem that we encounter is easily solved whenever we approach Saheb,” says Pratappur resident Mohammad Ushuf. Curiously, any inquiry about Shahabuddin in Siwan is rebuffed by the residents.
Sources say twice a week, Saheb would hold a ‘darbar’ inside the Siwan jail. When the jail was raided after the scribe’s murder, more than 200 people were inside the premises. Security personnel arrested 63 of them. “In violation of the Jail Manual, a large number of people had come to visit Shahabuddin and were carrying cellphones,” confirmed Siwan District Magistrate Mahendra Kumar.
A police officer claimed: “The youths who were arrested for the scribe’s killing were trying to make a career in crime.They wanted to be like Shahabuddin.”
Criminals emboldened
Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Prem Kumar alleges that under the Nitish Kumar government, criminals have been emboldened as they are “sheltered” by the parties in power. “The state government cannot instill fear in the minds of criminals when a murder convict like Shahabuddin is given a VIP treatment in jail,” says Prem Kumar.
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