The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against former Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, accusing him of criminal conspiracy in the murder of Bihar journalist Rajdeo Ranjan in May 2016. Sunil Singh Rawat, the investigating officer of the case, and Public Prosecutor Deep Narayan submitted the chargesheet against Shahabuddin and six others before CBI judge Anupam Kumari, PTI reported.

Defence lawyer Sharad Sinha identified the six others as Azahruddin Beig alias Laddan Mian, Rishi Kumar Jaiswal, Rohit Kumar Soni, Vijay Kumar Gupta, Ranjeet Kumar and Sonu Kumar Gupta.

“The chargesheet was filed under section 120B [criminal conspiracy] read with 302 [murder] of the IPC, as well as section 27 of the Arms Act,” Sinha told PTI.

Shahabuddin, a four time MP from Siwan, is currently lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with another murder. He was moved from a prison in Siwan to Delhi’s Tihar Jail in February and faces charges in 45 cases, including Ranjan’s murder.

The journalist was shot dead in May 2016. The local police had said that Ranjan’s killing was pre-meditated. He was the bureau chief of Hindi newspaper Hindustan in Siwan. His wife Asha had claimed several times that Shahabuddin was involved in the shooting.

Five people were arrested for Ranjan’s murder soon after the crime. Bihar’s Additional Director General of Police Sunil Kumar had said that a contract killer affiliated with Shahabuddin had hired the five.