RJD MLA Anant Singh gets 10 years RI in arms recovery case

Anant’s lawyer Sunil Kumar told HT that they will move Patna High Court and challenge the lower court’s order

The RJD MLA from Mokama, Anant Singh, who was found guilty in a case where the Patna police recovered an AK-47, grenades, magazines and other weapons from his Ladma residence, has been sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by a special court in Patna on Tuesday.

The special court had found the RJD MLA guilty under the Arms Act, Explosive Substance Act and IPC during the last hearing. (HT PHOTO.)

The MP-MLA court of Triloki Dubey pronounced the quantum of punishment against the Mokama MLA.

The court had last Tuesday held him guilty under the Arms Act, Explosive Substance Act and IPC.

The prosecution had examined 13 witnesses besides documentary evidence. There were 34 defence witnesses in support of the accused.

According to the prosecution’s case, the police on specific inputs raided Anant’s native village Ladma under Barh police station on August 16, 2019 and seized one AK-47 and hand grenades from there. Anant and Sunil were named accused in the FIR (389/2019). Charges were framed against them on October 15, 2020.

Anant’s lawyer Sunil Kumar told HT that they will move Patna High Court and challenge the lower court’s order.

In November 2018, senior party MLA Illiyas Hussain, who was convicted and awarded five years imprisonment in a multi-crore scam by a CBI court on September 27, 2018 was disqualified from the assembly.

The Supreme Court had ruled in 2013 that all lawmakers convicted in any case and sentenced to more than two years in prison will automatically lose their memberships from their respective assemblies or Parliament. The apex court had turned down a provision (Section VIII, 4) of the Representation of the People’s Act in an order dated July 10, 2013, making it clear that any legislator sentenced by a court of law for a period exceeding two years will be disqualified from membership with immediate effect.