There seems to be no respite for fugitive Mohammed Shahabuddin as Bihar Director General of Police D P Ojha on Saturday ordered his arrest in yet another case, of assault on a police officer, barely hours after rejecting suggestions that he was delaying the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal MP's arrest under political pressure.
The DGP has asked the investigating officer to obtain an arrest warrant from a competent court, Inspector General (Administration) Neelmani told PTI in Patna.
The case relates to the assault on Deputy Superintendent of Police Ashwini Kumar at an examination centre in Siwan on January 18, 2001, when he had gone to arrest Manoj Kumar Rana alias Pappu, an accused in a case of abduction and murder, who is a close associate of the MP.
The DGP had on Thursday night ordered the arrest of Shahabuddin, Rana and a few others in a case of assault in 2001 on former sub-divisional police officer of Siwan Sanjeev Kumar.
Kumar was assaulted by Shahabuddin and Rana when he was trying to arrest the latter. The duo also opened fire to intimidate Kumar and other people.
On July 30, the DGP had ordered his arrest in a case of abduction and murder of Munna Chaudhary, a CPI-ML activist. A Siwan court had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the MP and five others in February 2001.
On August six, Ojha had issued an order for arrest of Shahabuddin in a case of abduction and suspected murder of a CPI-ML worker Chote Lal Gupta in Siwan district on February five, 1999.
"We are working independently. There is no pressure on us to arrest or leave Shahabuddin alone," Ojha told a press conference in Patna when asked if the delay in the MP's arrest was due to pressure from RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav.