HC denies bail to Anant Singh in 2015 arms haul case

The Patna High Court on Wednesday rejected the plea for regular bail filed by former Mokama MLA Anant Singh in the 2015 arms seizure case in which he was convicted and sentenced to 10-year rigorous imprisonment by the MP-MLA court in Patna in July 2022.

Singh, a strongman who has won assembly polls multiple times, was released from the Beur Central jail in Patna on Sunday on a 15-day parole ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Munger, of which Mokama is a part.

The Bihar home department, while granting him parole, had cited “resolution of ancestral land” issues.

The former MLA had challenged his conviction in the HC and prayed for suspension of sentence and grant of bail on the ground that he has already undergone incarceration for six years and two months in the case, including as undertrial prisoner.

The state government opposed the plea. “... there are 52 cases against the appellant (Anant Singh), I do not think it to be a fit case for bail. Accordingly, the plea stands rejected,” reads the order by justice Navneet Kumar Pandey.

The HC has fixed July 10 for final hearing regarding the suspension of sentence.

Meanwhile, Anant Singh has been seeking votes for JD(U) candidate from Munger, Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh.

Anant Singh had won the 2020 assembly polls on RJD ticket but was disqualified as an MLA after his conviction in July 2022. Later, wife Neelam Devi won the seat for RJD in a bypoll. During the trust vote sought by CM Nitish Kumar in the assembly earlier this year, she was seen sitting on treasury benches.