Patna: India’s premier investigation agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Friday finally named former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) parliamentarian Mohammad Shahabuddin as accused in the Bihar journalist Rajdeo Ranjan murder case. He will be the 10th accused in the case.

The development comes soon after the jailed politician was produced before the special CBI court in Muzaffarpur town through video-conferencing and the CBI told the court it had enough evidence against Shahabuddin. The accused politician is currently lodged in Delhi’s high-security Tihar Jail.

According to sources, the court of the special CBI judge Anupama Kumari also granted permission to the investigating agency to take Shahabuddin into remand for eight days although the latter had sought 10-days for quizzing the accused.

The CBI submitted to the court that it would file a chargesheet against the jailed RJD politician soon claiming they have sufficient evidence against the accused. Reports said the CBI also filed a 51-page sealed report in the court in support of its claim. The court has fixed June 9 as the next date to produce Shahabuddin in court in connection with the case.

The needle of suspicion was moving towards the RJD strongman right since journalist Ranjan was shot dead by some motorcycle-borne men on May 13 last year, but his name didn’t figure in the case. It was only after the CBI took over the case and began investigations into the high-profile murder that his name finally cropped up. Subsequently, he was formally named the 10th accused in the case.

The CBI, so far, has filed charge-sheets against seven accused persons in the case, whereas two other accused — Mohammad Javed and Mohammad Kaif — are currently on bail. The investigating agency said both Javed and Kaif are active members of Shahabuddin gang.

Initially, the case was handed over to the state police but there was a twist when chief minister Nitish Kumar handed over the case to the CBI following a demand made by the slain journalist’s widow Asha Ranjan. Subsequently, she filed an appeal in the Supreme Court for shifting Shahabuddin to Tihar Jail from his hometown Siwan jail to ensure a fair trial. The court accepted the request and in February this year, the RJD politician was shifted to Tihar.

Shahabuddin who faces charges in a total of 45 criminal cases has been convicted in at least 10 cases so far and sentenced to life imprisonment in two cases. But this is for the first time the noose looks to be tightening around his neck firmly in the journalist murder case.

Ranjan, a senior journalist working in a prominent Hindi daily Hindustan, was returning home from office when the gangsters shot him dead on the fateful evening. One of the bullets was fired in his temple by the gangsters to ensure he didn’t survive.