Bihar: RJD MLA Convicted In Arms Seizure Case

A special court in Patna on Tuesday convicted Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA from Mokama assembly seat, Anant Singh, in a case pertaining to the recovery of an AK-47 rifle, cartridges and hand grenades from his house in 2019. The MP-MLA court of Special Judge Triloki Dubey will pronounce the quantum of sentence for Singh, popularly known as 'Chhote Sarkaar', on June 21. Singh was present in the court room when the verdict was pronounced. His lawyer Sunil Kumar told reporters, "We will move the high court after the punishment is awarded on June 21."

Singh, who had earlier accused ruling Janata Dal (United) of conspiring against him, has been languishing in Beur Central Jail in Patna. He is facing several criminal cases including those of murder, extortion, kidnapping and possession of illegal weapons, as per his election documents. An AK-47 rifle, two hand grenades, 26 cartridges and a magazine were seized by the police from the MLA's house at Nandwan village in Barh Police Station area during an 11-hour-long operation on August 16, 2019. After the seizure of the arms and ammunition, Singh went on the run.  Later, he had released a video in which he had claimed that political forces were "conspiring" against him in the case and he would be directly surrendering at the court instead of doing so before the police.

The MLA had surrendered before the Saket court in New Delhi in August 2019. Singh, who has been winning the Mokama assembly seat since 2005, was earlier known to be close to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. He, however, fell out with Kumar ahead of the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections. This led to his exit from the JD (U). Later, he joined 

(With PTI Inputs)