Patna: The Bihar Police late Saturday arrested strongman Anant Kumar Singh, Mokama candidate of the ruling Janata Dal (United), in connection with Thursday’s violence that led to the murder of Jan Suraaj supporter Dular Chand Yadav.
This comes just days before Bihar elections are set to begin.
Singh, known as “Chhote Sarkar”, was taken into custody around 11.40 pm by a police team led by Patna Senior Superintendent of Police, Kartikeya Sharma, from Bedhna village in Patna district. Singh has been an MLA multiple times from Mokama.
On Thursday afternoon, a clash was reported between supporters of Jan Suraaj party and the JD(U) in Tartar village, within the limits of Ghoswari police station in Mokama. The violence resulted in the killing of Yadav, said to be another local strongman, while several others were reported injured.
The Bihar Police have so far arrested more than 60 people as part of the probe into six FIRs registered following the violence in Mokama.
The clash led to stern criticism from the Election Commission of India as well as the opposition against the Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar, and has weakened the NDA’s poll narrative about the return of “jungle raj” in the state if the rival RJD returned to power in this month’s assembly election.
Addressing a press conference post-midnight, SSP Sharma said that Anant Singh has been named as the prime suspect in the case, along with his two close aides, Manjit Thakur and Ranjit Ram, who were also arrested Saturday.
“A confrontation ensued and stones were pelted between the two sides near Tartar village on Thursday. Police visited the scene, collected evidence, including footage from the area, as well as statements from witnesses. Investigation prima facie reveals that the two convoys came face to face, an altercation broke out, followed by stone-pelting and physical assault,” he said.
“Anant Singh was at the spot along with several of his aides, including the duo arrested so far,” he added.
According to the SSP, the postmortem report of Yadav confirmed death due to shock and trauma to vital organs such as the heart and lungs. However, he said probe into who fired a gun and who was driving the car that allegedly hit Yadav is still under way.
Singh, who faces more than 50 cases ranging from abduction and extortion to murder, won the Mokama constituency five times between 2005 and 2020, while his wife Nilam Devi is the incumbent MLA who contested the bypoll after his conviction in an arms recovery case in 2022.
Singh has been arrested at least twice before. He was arrested by the police in 2015 in connection with the murder case of three youth but was released on bail and won the Mokama assembly election that year as an independent candidate. Similarly, he was arrested by the Patna police in 2019 in a matter of recovery of an AK-47 and grenades from his ancestral house in Mokama. He was convicted in the case but acquitted in August last year.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)