Ex-MLA Anant Singh sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment in second case

This is the second prison sentence the court has slapped on the ‘Bahubali’ leader who is currently lodged in Beur central jail

An MP-MLA court of Patna on Thursday sentenced former Mokama MLA Anant Singh to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment in connection with a case dating back to 2015 when the police recovered several incriminating material, along with six rifle magazines, from his official residence.

Disqualified Bihar MLA Anant Singh. (File Photo)

This is the second prison sentence the court has slapped on the ‘Bahubali’ leader who is currently lodged in Beur central jail. Singh is considered one of the most controversial politicians in the state over the last four decades. He won five times from Mokama constituency — thrice from the Janata Dal (United), once as independent candidate and in 2020 from the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Police said the special justice of MP-MLA court found him guilty in the seven-year-old Arms Act case lodged with the Sachivalaya police station. On June 24, 2015, the then Patna SSP Vikas Vaibhav raided the MLA’s official residence on Mall Road-1 and recovered six empty magazines of the sophisticated Insas rifle, a bulletproof jacket and some blood-stained clothes.

The police conducted the raid in connection with a kidnapping and murder case under Barh police station limits, in which four youths were kidnapped on June 17, 2015 and the next day, the body of one of them, identified as Putush Yadav, was recovered from the MLA’s ancestral village.

Anant Singh’s counsel Sunil Kumar alleged that the Patna Police did not conduct a quality check of the bulletproof jacket. The police too reportedly failed to submit an FSL report of the jacket. “This case was completely political and my client was implicated in a false case,” the counsel defended.

The disqualified MLA was present in the court while the judgement was pronounced. “Yes, the court awarded 10 years’ imprisonment and I will approach the high court and Supreme Court against the MP-MLA court’s judgement,” Anant Singh told reporters.