PATNA: Former RJD MP and strong man Mohammad Shahabuddin and three of his associates were sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday for killing two brothers by pouring acid on them in an 11-year-old case.
Last Wednesday, a special court of Additional District Judge (ADJ) Ajay Kumar Srivastava had passed an order holding Shahabuddin, Rajkumar Sah, Sheikh Aslam and Arif Hussain guilty of charges under sections 302, 364A, 201 and 120B of the IPC.
The victims’ mother, Kalawati Devi, had filed an FIR accusing three of Shahabuddin’s henchmen of murdering her sons. According to the prosecution, three sons of Chandrashekhar Prasad were abducted by Rajkumar Sah, Sheikh Aslam and Arif Hussain on August 16, 2004 and taken to Pratappur village where Girish and Satish, the brothers, were given an acid ‘bath’ resulting in their death. The bodies of both brothers were never recovered. The third brother Rajeev Bhushan escaped and became an eyewitness in the case before being killed by unidentified assailants.
Shahabuddin has been in jail for several years in connection with several serious criminal cases. Hena Shahab, his wife termed the judgment political vendetta and said she would challenge it in the higher court.