Patna, May 6: A special court in Bihar has framed charges against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Mohammed Shahabuddin in a case relating to the recovery of foreign made firearms in 2005 from his ancestral house, police said here Tuesday.
The charges were framed under the Arms Act Monday by District and Sessions Judge Gyaneshwar Prasad Srivastava of the special court inside Siwan jail.
Official sources in the court said on phone that Shahabuddin, who was present in court, denied the charges.
A case was filed against Shahabuddin following the recovery of some Pakistan made cartridges and German-made automatic pistols from his ancestral house in Pratappur village in Siwan district. He was subsequently arrested in New Delhi and is now in Siwan jail.
In February this year, Shahabuddin was charged with poaching endangered animals at the Valmiki National Park, the only tiger reserve in Bihar.
Last year, the Patna High Court directed that a special court inside Siwan jail try all cases pending against him.
The RJD leader was convicted for the first time in March last year for his role in an attack on the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML) office in Siwan in 1998.
In May, the special court sentenced him to life imprisonment for the kidnapping and murder of Chhote Lal Gupta, a CPI-ML worker, in 1999.
In August, he was sentenced to 10 years in jail for attacking then Siwan Superintendent of Police S.K. Singhal 11 years ago.
A Lok Sabha member from Siwan since 1996, Shahabuddin is involved in 40 criminal cases including those of murder, abduction and possession of illegal arms.
