Controversial Bihar MP Shahabuddin arrested
New
Delhi: A police team from Bihar today arrested Member
of Parliament from Siwan and Rashtriya Janata Party leader
Mohammad Shahabuddin at his official residence in the Indian
Capital, Delhi. The arrest took place at 2.20 p.m. and the
parliamentarian was thereafter taken to the Parliament Street
police station. Shahabuddin will be produced before the Patiala
House court later and after all formalities are completed,
will be taken to Patna or Siwan. Shahabuddin was evading arrest
in about 30 cases relating to murder, kidnapping and seizure
of illegal firearms, unaccounted foreign currency, stolen
vehicles and a deer during a raid on his Pratappur house in
Siwan district on April 24, against him. The Bihar police
had been searching for Shahabuddin for the past four months
after eight warrants of arrest had been issued in his name.
He was also barred from entering the Siwan constituency during
the ongoing assembly polls. There are also cases against Shahabuddin,
his wife, brother and father on charges of not depositing
their arms despite cancellation of their licences, which is
an offence under the Arms Act of 1959.
Shahabuddin
was born into a lower middle-class family. The first case
against him was lodged on May 11, 1985. Two more cases followed
in the same year, one of which was for an attempt to murder
and illegal possession of arms. By March 1990, when he became
the independent MLA from Jiradie, the native place of India`s
first President Dr Rajendra Prasad, he had 12 cases against
him, three of which were for murder. In the last 11 years,
18 more cases under various sections have been added to this
list, including the killings of Jawaharlal Nehru University
student leader Chandrashekar and a lawyer. Shahabuddin owes
his rise to several politicians. One of his godfathers was
Samata Bihar legislature party leader Uma Shankar Singh. With
Singh`s support, Shahabuddin defeated Congress MLA Dr Tribhuwan
Singh in 1985. Later, in 1990, the landed upper castes of
Rajput, Bhumihar, Brahmin and Kayastha used him to counter
the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). In 1995 the
Janata Dal gave Shahabuddin an assembly ticket. Next year,
he managed a Lok Sabha seat from Siwan. He has won all the
three elections thereafter comfortably.
Shahabuddin`s hold over the Siwan and Jiradie assembly segments
is nearly complete. There are many in Bihar who see Shahabuddin
as a bully and not the daredevil he`s supposed to be. They
say that since he has enjoyed the backing of political powers,
he has always had the upper hand. They cite the example of
the 1996 parliamentary election during which Shahabuddin opened
fire on SP S K Singhal. A few days later Singhal withdrew
his complaint saying that no such incident took place. Shahabuddin
has fully exploited the Biharis' disillusionment with the
official machinery and police. On the flip side, such is the
fear that Shahabuddin has spread that, expect for one no opposition
party dares to even raise its flag in Siwan. Only the CPI
(ML) has stood up against him, in the process losing several
of its cadres including Chandrashekar.