News Analysis India

Tag: Anant Singh

  • Aide of RJD’s Mokama strongman shot dead 

    By Express News Service

    PATNA:  A close aide of muscleman and former RJD MLA Anant Singh was shot dead in broad daylight in Patna on Wednesday, intensifying tension in the Mokama area ahead of the Assembly bypoll. Dheeraj Singh, 42, a resident of Deoli in the Nalanda district, was killed by unidentified armed criminals at Patliputra Colony when he was travelling in a car. The assailants fired at least 12 bullets at his car. Singh, a former mukhiya, later succumbed to injuries.

    Police said Singh, better known as Lalji, was seeking votes for Anant Singh’s wife Neelam Devi who is contesting on an RJD ticket.  The elections will be held on November 3.  It is believed that Dheeraj was killed in retaliation for the murder of another muscleman, Fantu Singh. Fantu was close to another don of Mokama, Viveka Pehalwan, who had an old rivalry with Anant Singh. Both Anant and Viveka had buried the hatchet recently. 

    “The rivalry between Anant and Lalan Singh (husband of BJP nominee Sonam Devi) is a known secret,” Jaiprakash Singh, a local resident, said. Authorities have intensified patrolling in the constituency. “We are keeping a watch on the activities of people with shady past,” a police officer said.

    PATNA:  A close aide of muscleman and former RJD MLA Anant Singh was shot dead in broad daylight in Patna on Wednesday, intensifying tension in the Mokama area ahead of the Assembly bypoll. Dheeraj Singh, 42, a resident of Deoli in the Nalanda district, was killed by unidentified armed criminals at Patliputra Colony when he was travelling in a car. The assailants fired at least 12 bullets at his car. Singh, a former mukhiya, later succumbed to injuries.

    Police said Singh, better known as Lalji, was seeking votes for Anant Singh’s wife Neelam Devi who is contesting on an RJD ticket.  The elections will be held on November 3.  It is believed that Dheeraj was killed in retaliation for the murder of another muscleman, Fantu Singh. Fantu was close to another don of Mokama, Viveka Pehalwan, who had an old rivalry with Anant Singh. Both Anant and Viveka had buried the hatchet recently. 

    “The rivalry between Anant and Lalan Singh (husband of BJP nominee Sonam Devi) is a known secret,” Jaiprakash Singh, a local resident, said. Authorities have intensified patrolling in the constituency. “We are keeping a watch on the activities of people with shady past,” a police officer said.

  • RJD muscleman likely to lose MLA post after conviction

    Express News Service

    PATNA:  After a special court awarded 10-year jail term to him, RJD MLA Anant Singh, known for unleashing a reign of terror in Barh-Mokama Tal area of Patna district, has joined the long list of Bihar’s controversial musclemen whose political career was doomed after they fell out with the present dispensation.

    Singh was sentenced in connection with a case related to recovery of an AK-47 rifle, cartridges and hand grenades from his ancestral house at Ladma village in August 2019. Singh may lose his membership in the Bihar assembly as per the existing law and may also languish in a jail as an ordinary prisoner if the sentence awarded to him is confirmed by the high court.

    After the conviction by the MP-MLA court, Singh’s counsel Sunil Singh said since his client had been convicted for more than two years, his membership in the assembly would be revoked until Patna High Court stays the judgment.

    Having muscle power and popularity among voters in Barh-Mokama Tal area, Singh’s acceptability was wide as both RJD chief Lalu Yadav and Chief Minister and JD-U supremo Nitish Kumar took his services to improve their parties’ prospects in elections. Singh’s trouble started when he fell out with Nitish ahead of the 2015 election, said political observers in the state.