Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Mohammed Shahabuddin was sentenced to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment Friday in a case related to seizure of arms from Bihar’s Siwan district in 2005.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Gyaneshwar Prasad Srivastava pronounced the sentence at a special court inside Siwan jail, 150 km from here. Currently, Shahabuddin is lodged in Siwan jail.

The Lok Sabha member has been convicted in seven cases till date. However, the same court has acquitted Shahabuddin in another criminal case for lack of evidence, official sources in the court said.

The case under the Arms Act was filed in 2005 against Shahabuddin after firearms were recovered from his ancestral house in Pratappur village. He has also been charged with sedition for allegedly possessing cartridges and weapons of foreign make, foreign currencies and wireless sets.

The MP faces charges in over two dozen criminal cases, including those relating to murder, abduction and possession of illegal weapons and stolen vehicles.

Shahabuddin was convicted for the first time in March 2007 for his role in an attack on the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML) office in Siwan in 1998. In May 2007,a special court sentenced him to life imprisonment for the 1999 kidnapping and killing of Chhote Lal Gupta, a CPI-ML worker.

In August 2007, he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for attacking in 1996 then Siwan superintendent of police S.K. Singhal.

 

Source : ians