The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday said that it would hear both the pleas related to the cancellation of bail of former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA Mohammad Shahabuddin on Wednesday.

The SC asked Shahabuddin to be prepared to defend himself in court on Wednesday on why his bail should not be cancelled. The court also pulled up the Bihar government for showing “pressing urgency” in cancelling the bail, adding that it should have shown the same urgency before.

This follows the developments of September 26, when the apex court had issued notice to Bihar Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav, and Shahabuddin in connection with Siwan journalist Rajdev Ranjan’s murder. Yadav is accused of shielding Mohammad Kaid, a sharpshooter, who allegedly shot dead Ranjan. Lawyer Prashant Bushan told the SC today that Shahabuddin had 45 cases against him, of which 9 are related to murder. He has been convicted in 10 of these cases, Bhushan told the court.

The court has given Shahabuddin and Yadav two weeks time to submit their responses in the case.

Earlier today, hours before the SC hearing, the Bihar government replaced its lawyer in the case. Senior SC lawyer Dinesh Dwivedi replaced Gopal Singh. The opposition political parties in Bihar have been critical that Singh is not competent enough to argue the case against seasoned lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who is defending Shahabuddin.

Currently, the SC is hearing two petitions in the case – one by the Bihar government, and another by Prashant Bhushan who is representing the main petitioner Chanda Babu.