Poll murder: Bail plea of jailed JD(U) MLA Anant rejected by MP-MLA court
Anant Singh was jailed for murder of former leader-strongman Dularchand Yadav during poll campaign in Mokama. He won the polls from behind the bars.
The bail petition of jailed Janata Dal (United) MLA and Mokama muscleman Anant Singh was on Tuesday rejected by the special MP-MLA court of additional district and session judge (ADJ) Dhananjay Kumar Mishra. Singh was arrested and sent to jail in connection with the murder of 75-year-old Dularchand Yadav during the assembly election.
He won the election from behind the bars in Beur Jail. A five-time MLA from Mokama, he won the assembly election by a margin of 28,206 votes against RJD’s Veena Devi (wife of another don Surajbhan Singh), who got 63,210 votes.
The court also rejected the anticipatory bail petitions of Anant’s nephew Rajveer Singh and Karmveer Singh, both of whom are named accused in the murder case and are still at large.
Police are yet to file a charge sheet against the accused in the case.
Dularchand was killed on October 30 while campaigning for a Jan Suraaj candidate in Mokama’s Ghoswari police station area of the rural Patna while Anant Singh was arrested on November 2 with his two aides Manikant Thakur and Ranjit Ram from Bedna village under Barh police station.
Hours before Anant’s arrest, the Election Commission of India had removed the Barh SDO and SDPOs from their posts.
Anant’s counsel Nabin Kumar, while talking to the HT, confirmed the rejection of regular bail petition and anticipatory bail petitions of the accused. “We will approach Patna high court for relief,” he added.
The Patna police have not been able to recover pellets from the spot where Dularchand was hit in the leg. The police are yet to identify the owners of the vehicles, which were damaged in the “clashes”. The owner of the Thar vehicle which allegedly crushed Dularchand is also yet to be identified and arrested.
Dularchand Yadav was a prominent figure in Mokama’s political and social landscape, known both for his influence and his controversial past. Once considered one of the most powerful personalities in the Tal region during the 1980s and 1990s, he had close ties with several political leaders, including former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, and chief minister Nitish Kumar while contesting elections from Mokama in 1990 against Anant’s elder brother but lost. “The deceased (Dularchand) had a gunshot injury in his leg. As per the post-mortem report, he was murdered. The bullet has not been recovered because the postmortem report showed there was an entry wound and an exit wound,” said an investigator, familiar with the matter.
The special MP-MLA court rejected the bail petition of jailed Janata Dal (United) MLA Anant Singh, arrested in connection with the murder of Dularchand Yadav, during the assembly election. Singh, a five-time MLA, won the election from prison. The court also denied anticipatory bail for his nephew and another accused, both at large.