Veteran lawyer Ram Jethmalani will represent gangster-turned-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin in the Supreme Court on September 26.
"Jethmalani has accepted Shahabuddin's request to appear in the Supreme Court on his behalf. Jethmalani is likely to file 'wakalatnama' on Saturday to argue in the apex court for Shahabuddin," a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader close to Shahabuddin said here on Thursday.
The apex court on Monday issued notice to former RJD MP on a plea challenging grant of bail to him in a murder case.
Jethmalani is a Rajya Sabha member of the RJD from Bihar and is considered close to RJD chief Lalu Prasad. The RJD is a partner in the ruling coalition in the state.
In past, he had also fought cased of RJD chief Lalu Yadav, who is a convict in the fodder scam.
From appearing in famous KM Nanavati vs Maharashtra government case in 1959 to multi-crore 2G scam in 2011, he has represented all kind of clients.
He has appeared for assassins of the late prime minister Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict V Sriharan alias Murugan,Harshad Mehta in stock market scam,underworld don Haji Mastan in smuggling cases, BJP leader LK Advani, Manu Sharma in Jessica Lall murder case, Amit Shah in several fake encounter, Kanimozhi in 2G scam,Asaram in case related to sexual assault of a 16-year old girl, Jayalalithaa in disproportionate asset case.
Lalu's younger son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav told media that he was not aware that party MP Jethmalani is to argue for Shahabuddin in the apex court.
According to party leaders, Shahabuddin received the Supreme Court notice on Tuesday at his native village Pratappur in Siwan district, where he has been staying since September 10 when he was released from the Bhagalpur Central Jail after 11 years.
The Supreme court order came on a plea of Chandrakeshwar Prasad, whose three sons were allegedly killed by a henchman of Shahabuddin, and that of the Bihar government challenging the high court order granting bail.
The Bihar government had also sought issuance of non-bailable arrest warrant against Shahabuddin.
Earlier, Shahabuddin said he is ready to go back to jail if the apex court ordered it. He refused to comment on the apex court order which did not grant an interim stay on his bail.
"I am a law-abiding citizen and respect the court order. Earlier, I was sent to jail by the court and ten days ago I was released from jail after the court granted me bail. It is all for the court to decide," Shahabuddin told the media in Siwan.
Opposition BJP has appealed to Jethmalani, who was earlier parliament member of that party, not to defend Shahabuddin in the apex court.
Soon after coming out of the jail, Shahabuddin launched an attack on Nitish, calling him a circumstantial CM, and embarked on an over 250-km journey from the jail in Bhagalpur to Siwan followed by a cavalcade of about 400 vehicles.
Shahabuddin’s attack on Nitish Kumar after release caused a lot of embarrassment to the Bihar CM.
