A trader Shyam Babu alias Javed Mian, 35, the prime witness in the sensational murder of incarcerated former RJD MP Shahabuddin’s maternal nephew Mohammad Yusuf (38), was shot dead by motorbike borne three assailants in Siwan Town on Wednesday evening.

The incident took place at Ramraj Mode, a stone’s throw away from Siwan railway station. Police said that Javed was attacked around 5pm when he sat on his chicken shop.

Eyewitnesses of the incident said that armed assailants surrounded and shot him from point blank range. They also fired on air to terrorise the locals and passerby.

Locals rushed him to the hospital where doctor declared him brought dead. The incident created panic among the locals.

The murder of Javed, one of the seven witnesses who had set to depose in court against the accused, is seen as a major setback to the trial in Yusuf’s murder. Yusuf was shot dead by Mohammad Kaif, Raunak, Islam, Maqbool, Sandeep and Qayyum on February 1 and his body dumped near a mosque. Police recovered an empty and three live cartridges of 7.65 mm from the spot.

Mohammad Qayyum had on March 22 arrested from Batla House in New Delhi after police received a tip-off that he had taken shelter.

Javed’s family alleged that he had been receiving death threats for the past few months, including from the main accused who is still at large, and that police were informed but had taken no action.

They said Javed, after repeated death threats, had approached local police barely two weeks ago and asked him to either lodge him in jail or provide him security. Miscreants also attacked on his house twice but police failed to take any action against the suspects.

Siwan SP Navin Chandra Jha said that police constituted a special team to crack the case. Shahabuddin is presently lodged in Tihar Central Jail at Delhi after being shifted from Siwan on the directions of the Supreme Court. The apex court had upheld his life sentence.

First Published: May 16, 2019 14:07 IST