Ex-RJD MP, and a poster-boy of the Jungle Raj in Bihar in the 1990s, Mohammad Shahabuddin was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of two brothers.
Shahabuddin is convicted of killing the two men by pouring acid on them. But then the former MP is no stranger to jail or violent crime.
So who is this man who gained widespread notoriety when Lalu Prasad Yadav was chief minister?
Hailing from Siwan in Bihar, Shahabuddin is the perfect example of the typical strongman evolving into a powerful politician. He reigned supreme as the MP of Siwan from 1996 to 2008.
With around 50 cases, including several counts of murder and abduction, a gainst his name, Shahabuddin was unchallenged in the state for over a decade, before the law caught up with him.
He contested the 2004 elections while in prison, held party meetings in jail, organised his campaign, and won against JD(U) candidate Om Prakash Yadav, whose key supporters were allegedly targeted.
Having been elected MLA twice before going for the Lok Sabha in 1996, he hardly faced opposition, and is also said to have rigged polls.
He was unable to stand for elections after his conviction in a “kidnapping with intent to murder” case in 2007 .
Left unchallenged due to protection by RJD leadership, Shahabuddin was known for insulting, slapping and beating up police personnel, l eading to a famous shoot out between his men and police in 2001.
Shahabuddin’s word was law in Siwan as he ran a parallel government, holding courts of his own in which he settled family, land disputes and also marital problems.
Nana Patekar’s portrayal of antagonist Tabrez Alam in the movie Apaharan may have been inspired by the life and actions of Shahabuddin.
At the height of his power when RJD was part of the central government, a raid at Shahabuddin’s house revealed a huge arms catch including night vision goggles and laser guided guns, which led the then Bihar DGP to accuse him of links to ISI .
The sharpshooters that shot dead JNU student leader Chandrashekhar Prasad in 1997 in Siwan, are also said to have been employed by Shahabuddin.
He is said to have threatened judges and policemen with statements like, ” Tadpa tadpa ke maarenge “, and once told Rediff that, ‘No power on earth can fool around with me’.
Shahabuddin’s political rise ended with his wife losing out to long time rival Om Prakash Yadav in 2009, and he has been languishing in Bhagalpur jail after the 2007 conviction.