By IANS
Patna : The Patna High Court Wednesday rejected Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Mohammed Shahabuddin’s bail plea, dealing a blow to the hopes of the leader now serving a life imprisonment for the murder of a political activist in 1999.
A division bench of Justice Shivkirti Singh and S.M. Mahfooz Alam rejected Shahabuddin’s plea, saying bail could not be granted at this stage, court officials said.
Shahabuddin had moved the court May 24 against his conviction and sentencing in the kidnap and murder of Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) worker Chhote Lal Gupta in 1999.
In early May, Additional District and Sessions Judge Gyaneshwar Prasad Srivastava of a special court inside Siwan jail sentenced Shahabuddin to life imprisonment and fined him Rs.1,000 for the abduction and murder of Gupta.
The RJD MP was earlier convicted for attacking the CPI-ML office in Siwan, 150 km from here, on Sep 19, 1998.
Life imprisonment to Shahabuddin could disqualify him from contesting parliamentary elections again.
“According to Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People’s Act, 1951, a person is disqualified from contesting elections if convicted for more than two years,” said M.P. Gupta, a lawyer at Patna High Court.
A Lok Sabha member from Siwan since 1996, Shahabuddin is an accused in 40 criminal cases, including those of murder, abduction and possession of illegal arms.
Currently lodged in Siwan jail, he was arrested in Delhi over one-and-a-half years ago following seizure of arms from his ancestral house in Siwan.