Mohammad Shahabuddin - Pending Cases

Pending Cases

Meanwhile, other trials are progressing in eight other cases in Siwan where charges have been filed, these cover the following articles from the Indian Penal Code:

• 302 (murder),
• 307 (attempts to murder),
• 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder),
• 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent to secretly and wrongfully confine a person),
• 379 (punishment for theft),
• 147 (punishment for rioting),
• 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon) and
• 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means)

In addition, charges are yet to be taken up in another 23 cases.

Simultaneously cases are also under trial in other parts of the country, including a triple murder case in Jamshedpur.

One of the important trials is in regard to the abduction and murder of CPI-ML activist Munna Choudhary in 2001, in which witness Rajkumar Sharma, himself a criminal, has surrendered to the police, and is said to have recorded a statement identifying Shahabuddin:

Sharma said on January 6, 2001, he was roaming around on a motorcycle with his friend Munna Chowdhary in Vishunpur village when Shahabuddin, accompanied by his goons Rama Chowdhary, Manoj Das, Jawahar Chowdhary, and Pappu Srivastava arrived in three separate cars and opened indiscriminate firing at them.

One bullet struck the tire of the motorcycle causing them to hit the ground. Shahabuddin then fired one shot at Munna Chowdhary's leg and then dragged him into one of the vehicles and fled, Sharma told the police.

"Later, I learnt that Munna was killed and dumped into an abandoned chimney," he said.

If Sharma stands by this testimony, perhaps more verdicts will be coming up against Shahabuddin (witnesses are often bumped off, even inside court premises, or may be induced to change their statements, e.g., see the Manu Sharma or Sanjeev Nanda trials).