Patna High Court on Wednesday granted bail to former MP and RJD leader Mohammad Shahabuddin in a 2004 double murder and kidnapping case.

But he will not be released now, serving life imprisonment as he is for abducting and killing Chhote Lal Gupta, 10-years imprisonment for an attack on then Siwan superintendent of police (SP) S.K. Singhal in 1996 and another 10-year jail term for possessing illegal arms. He also faces cases of kidnapping, theft and violation of Foreign Exchange Act and treason.

A division bench of Justices Anjana Prakash and Rajendra Kumar Mishra granted the former MP bail after he moved high court following his conviction by a special court in Siwan district - which awarded him life - last December.

The case had made headlines in August 2004 when henchmen of the former MP picked up three sons of a Siwan businessman, Chandrakeshwar Prasad, took them to his native Pratappur village and attacked them with acid. One son, Rajiv Roshan, managed to escape but the other two - Girish Raj and Satish Raj - died.

The accused persons were also charged with destroying evidence, as the police could not recover the bodies of the two sons. The case took another turn when unidentified men killed Rajiv on June 16, 2015. Shahabuddin's son Osama was accused of hatching the plot to eliminate him. On February 3, the high court had denied Shahabuddin bail in the Rajiv killing case.

"Injustice has been done," said the brothers' father, Chandrakeshwar, over phone from Siwan.

"There are no bread earners in the family. We are surviving somehow and don't know what to do next. We don't know where to go for justice."

Chandrakeshwar called the former MP a "darinda (demon)" and said he fears for his and his family members' lives once Shahabuddin emerges from jail. "This is a political conspiracy. We had great hope from the Nitish Kumar government, but all our hopes have now been shattered."

The former MP was first convicted on May 8, 2007, and handed down a life sentence on charges of abduction and killing a CPI(ML) worker, Chhote Lal Gupta, in February 1999. Shahabuddin also figured in the murder of former JNU president Chandrashekhar, who was shot dead in Siwan on March 31, 1997.