A special court in Siwan on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to Rashtriya Janata Dal parliamentarian Mohammed Shahabuddin, three days after he was convicted in a case pertaining to the kidnapping of a Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist worker eight years ago.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Gyaneshwar Prasad Srivastava of the special court in Siwan jail also pronounced a fine of Rs 1,000 on him.
The special court had convicted the RJD lawmaker on Saturday on the basis of circumstantial evidence under Section 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) of Indian Penal Code in the case relating to kidnap of CPI-ML worker Chhote Lal Gupta on February seven, 1999.
Shahabuddin was the only person named accused in the FIR as others involved in the kidnapping were unknown. The prosecution could not establish that the kidnapped man was murdered as his body was never recovered.
The judge, who held trial inside the Siwan Jail for security reasons, however, acquitted the MP in two other cases.
While in one case, Shahabuddin was alleged to have exploded bombs at the local Dav College on September 10, 1988, in another he was charged with assaulting a spinning mill employee Birbal on March 21, the same year.
On March two this year Shahabuddin was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in a case of attack on CPI-ML office at Kurmabad in Siwan town on September 19, 1998 in which the party's office Secretary Keshav Baitha was injured.
Shahabuddin has over 30 cases, including those of murder, attempt to murder, possession of illegal arms of foreign make, unaccounted foreign currency and violation of Wildlife Act, pending against him.With Agency Inputs
