CBI set to seek police custody of ex-RJD MP Shahabuddin

New Delhi: Based on the evidence, the CBI is all set to seek “police custody”, instead of “judicial custody”, of RJD leader Mohammad Shahabuddin in connection with the murder case of Siwan-based journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, as granted by the special CBI court in Muzaffarpur recently.

Sources said, “The CBI will now seek his police custody as he is an accused in the case. Shahabuddin is required to be interrogated in police custody not in judicial custody, as granted by the competent court”.

If required, he may be subjected to the “lie-detection test also”, sources said, adding that the agency has “enough evidence” to prove that Shahabuddin had played an “important” role in the murder of the journalist.

The former RJD MP was on May 26 named as the 10 accused in the murder of Rajdeo Ranjan by the CBI.

The former RJD MP is lodged at present in the high security Tihar Jail in Delhi. “The CBI is preparing to file a chargesheet in this case on the basis of evidence collected by the agency sleuths during investigation,” sources said.

The case was handed over to the CBI in September last year after the slain journalist’s widow Asha Ranjan and his father Radhe Krishna Chaudhary repeatedly alleged that Shahabuddin was behind the murder.

The suspicion over Shahbuddin’s involvement deepened after names of two of his henchmen Mohammad Kaif and Mohammad Javed surfaced.

“Chargesheet against six accused has already been filed in connection with the case. Two of the accused Mohammad Javed and Kaif are currently on bail and Shahabuddin has been made the tenth accused in the case,”  sources said.

Local police had earlier claimed that the murder was the result of “premediated conspiracy”. Sources also claimed that the slain journalist had become a big threat for criminals because of his news reports against the deteriorating law and order condition in Siwan.

There are reports that the Siwan police had provided the CBI the CCTV footage of the area where the killing had taken place. Mohammad Shahabuddin was in jail when the journalist was gunned down in Siwan while he was returning from office on May 13, 2016.

Shahabuddin, facing more than 39 criminal cases including those of kidnapping and murder, was transferred to Tihar jail on February 18.