New Delhi, Sept. 29: Gangster-turned-RJD politician Mohammad Shahabuddin today told the Supreme Court he was willing to move out of Bihar and shift to Delhi as a pre-condition for being on bail, even as the apex court pulled up the Nitish Kumar government for failing to provide him a copy of the charge-sheet in the Rajiv Roshan case.

The bench of Justice P.C. Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy will pronounce tomorrow its verdict on two appeals seeking cancellation of Shahabuddin's bail granted by Patna High Court on September 7.

The charge-sheet in question pertains to the murder case of Roshan, the prime witness in the killing of his two brothers who were drenched in acid allegedly at the behest of Shahabuddin in 2004. Roshan was gunned down days before he was to depose in the case in June 2004. Shahabuddin's counsel M. Shoeb Alam said the charge-sheet was filed on February 22, 2015, i.e. 19 months ago. However, the charge-sheet documents and police papers required to be provided to the accused "without delay" under Section 207 of the CrPC have not even been prepared, Alam said.

The judges hauled up the Bihar government on this. "Let us not have any doubts and inferences. If charge-sheet has not been given, we have reservations over the trial. It is something very serious, if charge-sheet has not been submitted in one-and-half years. It can't be one sided.

"Is it not duty of prosecution to furnish a copy to accused?" Justice Roy asked senior counsel Dinesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Bihar government. Senior counsel Shekhar Naphade, appearing on behalf of Shahabuddin, told the court that the copy was deliberately not being provided to his client "since there is nothing against the accused in the charge-sheet".

"Role of prosecution is to bring out the truth and to act with a degree of fairness. The state has acted as the spokesperson for the police in the cases against the accused. He is a victim of media trial. An image has been created where if any person dies in Bihar, Mohammad Shahabuddin is to be blamed. Once a man attains notoriety, he becomes a punching bag. The accused has a fundamental right to speedy trial. That right is being violated by the state merely to prolong the incarceration of the accused," Naphade told the court.

The senior counsel argued that Shahabuddin had been transferred from Siwan jail to Bhagalpur jail on May 18, 2016, without being given a hearing.

He said the Patna High Court had on February 3 this year, while rejecting Shahabuddin's earlier bail application, clearly directed the sessions court to conclude the trial within nine months. However, till date the formal trial is yet to commence.

"It is a conscious attempt to delay trial by denying me the charge-sheet. No case is made out against me. I have a fundamental right to early trial. This order is tainted with mala fide. Whether judicial or administrative order is passed, I have to be heard.

"There is much more than that what meets the eye. Put me to any conditions your lordships want. I will not go to Bihar. Let me stay in Delhi," the senior counsel pleaded. However, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Chandrakeshwar Prasad, whose three sons, among them Rajiv Roshan, were murdered allegedly at the instance of Shahabuddin, was making a false claim.

According to Bhushan, the RJD leader could not have challenged the order taking cognizance of the complaint against him without having a copy of the charge-sheet.

The bench, though, was not convinced as after perusing the order of the high court and other records, it noted that the charge-sheet seemed not to have been provided to Shahabuddin.