Patna: For decades, Mohammad Shahabuddin ruled Bihar’s Siwan district with an iron fist, the master of a criminal empire who had slain dozens. But now, less than a year after he succumbed to Covid-19, his wife is feeling threatened enough that she’s thinking of leaving the area.
This is allegedly due to the threat posed by a purported former hitman of the late MP, Raees Khan, and his brother, Ayub Khan. Known as the Khan brothers, the duo are seen as making moves to capture the legacy of Shahabuddin — Siwan’s second-most-notorious criminal, after the late con artist Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava, aka Natwarlal, who ‘sold’ the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, and Parliament House.
When he contested the elections to the Bihar Legislative Council as an independent candidate last week (he lost), Raees Khan had listed 12 cases related to murder, kidnapping and other crimes in his affidavit. Ayub, wanted in more than 42 cases, was arrested in January.
Speaking to ThePrint Thursday, Shahabuddin’s widow, Hena Shahab, said that she and her family felt threatened, and toyed with the idea of leaving their one-time fiefdom of Siwan.
“If anything happens to my son, I will have nothing to live on. I had been kept away from my husband for 16 years before he died. My son Osama has not been in Siwan for months. He lives in Delhi. Yet, he has been named in a FIR related to a shootout. I demand that the police declare him innocent. Or if I don’t get justice, I might leave Siwan”, she said.
She was referring to the FIR in the case of a shootout on 5 April, when Raees Khan, returning home in a convoy after the legislative council election, was attacked with a spray of bullets. Although Khan survived, one person was killed in the attack, and Khan lodged an FIR at the local police station that named seven people, including Osama.
Siwan superintendent of police (SP) S.K. Sinha said, “The matter is still being investigated.” While Hena Shahab asserted that Osama had been framed, Raees Khan denied this. “I am not a child who can be tutored. I want justice to prevail,” he told ThePrint.
Also read: From Lalu’s guide to his man, foe & now ally – how Sharad Yadav’s career is tied to RJD boss
Mohammad Shahabuddin
Shahabuddin, the son of a stamp vendor, was a small-time criminal until 1992, when he was elected to the Bihar assembly as an independent candidate from Ziradei in Siwan district — the birthplace of India’s first President, Rajendra Prasad.
Then-Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav took Shahabuddin under his wing, and in 1996, the latter became the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) MP from Siwan — a seat he would hold on to right up till 2009, when convictions in several murder and kidnapping cases disqualified him from contesting.
His rule over Siwan was absolute — reportedly, he even set up a parallel court system to dole out ‘justice’, and fixed doctors’ fees — with political opponents prevented from putting up posters even during elections, and more than 40 criminal cases piled up against him.
When former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Chandrashekhar Prasad was killed in 1997, by men allegedly in Shahabuddin’s employ, it created a national outrage. In 1996, Shahabuddin’s men attempted to kill the then SP of Siwan, S.K. Singhal — now Bihar’s director general of police.
In 2004, Shahabuddin killed two brothers by giving them an acid bath, for which he was convicted. In the campaign for the 1999 Lok Sabha polls, several Janata Dal (United) workers were killed within a short span. The list goes on.
In 2004, Shahabuddin was arrested for the 1999 kidnapping of a Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist Liberation) worker, who was never seen again. After that, his life outside jails was brief, and he was ultimately shifted to Tihar jail.
The RJD has fielded his wife, Hena Shahab, who doesn’t have any criminal record, as its candidate in Siwan in the three Lok Sabha elections from 2009 on, and she has lost each time. Shahbuddin himself contracted Covid in Tihar jail and died in hospital on 1 May, 2021. His body was buried at an unknown spot and was not allowed to be carried back to Delhi.
The Khan brothers
Ayub Khan and Raees Khan are reputed to once have been men who executed Shahbuddin’s will. But in 2005, their father contested the assembly polls in Siwan against the MP’s wishes. For this rebellion, Shahabuddin kidnapped their father and was let off with a warning. The Khan brothers are then thought to have revolted and started their own gang.
Local people said that Khan now gets patronage from local JD(U) MP Kavita Singh and her husband Ajay Singh. A local former MLA, who did not wish to be named, said, “They want to create a Muslim face who can take away the Muslim votes from the RJD, because Hena Shahab has contested the Lok Sabha polls and lost but still gets all the Muslim votes in Siwan. The plan appears to have worked, because in the MLC polls for Panchayat bodies, Raees Khan lost — but still got most of the Muslim votes.”
However, the JD(U) denies that it has anything to do with Khan. “We do not entertain people with criminal backgrounds,” MLC Neeraj Kumar told ThePrint.
During Shahabuddin’s era, the district was a state within a state — nothing happened without the MP’s consent. However, since his death, his empire looks to have collapsed — despite politicians having made a big show at 27-year-old Osama’s wedding in October 2021.
The former MLA from Siwan district said, “There was an Ayurvedic college established and run by Shahbuddin, which other local politicians have taken over. The family has a few commercial establishments in Siwan town that can easily be disposed of. The shooters and criminals who had supported Shahabuddin’s regime have deserted the family because they are in no position to provide protection. Hena Shahab is no Shahabuddin. If the situation for the family worsens, they are capable of leaving.”
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
Also read: After policemen attack Bihar judge in office, furious Patna HC asks DGP to file report