Patna: The Bihar Police are investigating a possible link between the AK-47 recovered from local MLA Anant Singh Friday and the dozens of assault rifles stolen over many years from the ordnance factory at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, ThePrint has learnt.
Singh, a former close aide of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) following the alleged recovery of an AK-47 and two hand grenades from his residence at Barh, a subdivision of Patna district.
The raid reportedly followed an audio clip where Singh is purportedly heard discussing a plan to eliminate a rival.
Last year, law enforcement agencies busted a large-scale smuggling racket involving AK-47s from the Central Ordnance Depot at Jabalpur, some of them allegedly for sale to Maoists, criminal gangs and politicians.
The case was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Garima Malik Monday wrote a letter to the NIA, seeking its help in finding out whether the seized AK-47 was among the missing ones from Jabalpur, a senior police officer told ThePrint.
Also read: Bihar’s dons are propping up their wives, sons and brothers to keep their political clout
Rival blamed
Singh has blamed Friday’s police raid as well as the discovery of weapons on JD(U) MP Lallan Singh, who he has accused of framing him. Lallan Singh had defeated Anant Singh’s wife Neelam Devi from the Munger parliamentary seat in the general elections held earlier this year.
However, Anant Singh has been underground since the raid, claiming that he is visiting an ailing friend, and will soon surrender in court.
‘Bahubali, Robin Hood’
Those acquainted with Anant Singh, an independent MLA celebrated by supporters as their own “Robin Hood”, will not be surprised at the recovery of an AK-47 and hand grenades from his residence.
He is a known bahubali of Bihar politics who has been patronised by both Lalu Prasad of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Nitish at different times. “Everybody knows what Anant Singh is,” said state minister Neeraj Kumar of the JD(U), who is from the same assembly segment as the controversial MLA. “It is time for him to face the consequences.”
To say Anant Singh’s influence in Mokama, his constituency, is strong would be an understatement. In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, when Nitish contested from the erstwhile constituency of Barh, he had approached Anant Singh — facing cases of kidnapping and murder even then — for support.
Their association remains etched in public memory through a photo that subsequently appeared in newspapers, where Singh is seen weighing Nitish in silver at a public meeting.
Nitish eventually lost from Barh, but his lead from Mokama assembly seat was impressive.
In the riverine belt of Mokama, in Patna district, Anant Singh is called “chhote sarkar (younger chief)”. “Bade sarkar (elder chief)” was his late elder brother Dilip Singh, a minister in the erstwhile Rabri Devi government.
Dilip Singh was the face of terror in Mokama, but people familiar with the two say Anant was the one who actually flexed his muscles.
“Not a leaf moves without the consent of Anant Singh,” said a senior IPS officer.
Many residents in Mokama credit his presence with curbing crime, saying it prevents sexual harassment, among other criminal incidents, the laundry list of allegations against Singh notwithstanding.
Also read: Lalu Yadav is ‘day-dreaming’ again about alliance with Nitish Kumar
‘Building an empire’
Singh entered politics in 2005, after Dilip’s death, when he contested the assembly election from Mokama as a JD(U) candidate and won. He repeated the feat in 2010.
During this tenure as MLA, he is said to have built an empire by opening malls and hotels in Patna.
Detractors allege that contractors close to him get all the lucrative contracts stemming from the NTPC power thermal plant at Barh.
Anant Singh’s political fortunes took a beating when Nitish joined hands with Lalu ahead of the 2015 assembly elections. Lalu is an influential Yadav leader and Singh was accused of murdering a youth from the community.
Singh was subsequently charged with the murder and put in jail. He nevertheless won the Mokama assembly seat for a third time.
In 2019, his wife Neelam Devi contested the Lok Sabha polls from Munger on a Congress ticket with Lalu’s blessings. Neelam Devi suited the Congress because she did not face any criminal cases, but nobody was in doubt who was actually contesting.
However, contesting against Neelam was JD(U) candidate Rajiv Ranjan alias Lallan Singh, the man who had brought Singh into Nitish’s party.
Lallan defeated Neelam, and did not hide the fact that he would be out to destroy Singh. “There are roads where commercial vehicles belonging to only one person is allowed to move,” he said after his win. “NTPC gives contracts to persons owing allegiance to one person. All this will stop.”
Despite losing the seat, Neelam had managed to buck the Modi wave to establish a lead in the Mokama assembly segment.
Anant Singh belongs to Bihar’s powerful Bhumihar caste and politicians see him as a hero of his community.
The Congress had counted on his mobilisation prowess earlier this year, and former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh had asked him to do a road show in his favour in the Vaishali parliamentary seat this election. Several other grand alliance candidates made a similar request, but his road shows did not result in their victories.
Also read: Biggest challenge for Lalu Yadav now is how to handle sons Tejashwi and Tej Pratap