Criminal Spills Beans on RJD Leaders Haque and Shahabuddin

Patna: May 5, 2003

Under intense grilling by the police in Patna, the notorious criminal Sultan Mian, who was arrested yesterday in Siwan after eluding the cops for several months, spilled the beans on the Rashtriya Janata Dal Minister of Welfare Ejazul Haque and said that he enjoyed cordial relationship with the minister.

Mian was brought to Patna after his arrest on Saturday. Kanchan Mishra, whom he is alleged of abducting and forcibly marrying, was also brought to the capital to get her account of the story. A police team led by central range DIG Ravindra Kumar interrogated Mian.

At Kotwali Police Station, Mian said he was a close friend of Haque, and was a close relative of Mohammed Shahabuddin, an RJD MP from Siwan and a terror in his own might, and frequented Haque's official residence here in Patna without any restriction.

Mian was produced before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate S. K. Srivastava who then remanded him to judicial custody.

The criminal had been wanted by the police in several dozen cases of murders, abductions, extortion, armed robberies and other acts of terrorism.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that Kanchan Mishra is believed to have said that the marriage with Mian was consensual and not 'forcible' as reported in the media. Sources also said that she is currently pregnant and has been sent to her mother's house in Patna.

The opposition leaders in Bihar are patiently waiting and watching the Sultan Mian drama unfold and have so far refrained from making any official statement. However, the buzz is that now that Mian is in Bihar police custody, every effort will be made by the RJD leaders to either hush him from talking any more to the police or simply deny even knowing him.