JDU's Anant Singh Arrested In Jan Suraaj Supporter's Murder Case

Former Bihar MLA Anant Singh, who has been fielded by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, was arrested early Sunday in connection with the murder of Jan Suraaj supporter Dular Chand Yadav.

Yadav, a gangster-turned-politician who was formerly associated with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), was killed while campaigning in Mokama on Thursday for Priyadarshi Piyush, who is fighting on a ticket of Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party in these assembly polls.

Singh, the JD(U) candidate from Mokama and the husband of sitting MLA Neelam Devi, was arrested from his residence in Barh along with two other persons, Manikant Thakur and Ranjeet Ram, who were also present when the incident took place.

The three were remanded to a 14-day judicial custody by a court in Patna. 

“Police have arrested three persons — Anant Singh, Manikant Thakur and Ranjeet Ram — in connection with the murder of Dular Chand Yadav," Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Patna, Kartikeya Sharma, said while addressing a late-night press conference with Patna District Magistrate Thyagarajan SM.

He said that Yadav's post-mortem report shows that he died of cardiorespiratory failure due to shock caused by injury to the heart and lungs by a hard and blunt substance.

“Therefore, the post-mortem report and preliminary investigation suggest that it's a case of murder,” he said.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Singh said he was "far away" from the spot where Dular Chand Yadav had an argument with his supporters.

"I do not know what exactly happened, but some of my people have complained that Yadav's henchmen vandalised their vehicles," he said.

He also blamed the husband of his RJD rival Veena Devi.

"It must be the handiwork of Suraj Bhan. He orchestrated the killing so that I get a bad name," Singh said.

In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, Anant Singh won the seat as an RJD candidate but was later disqualified after his conviction under the Arms Act in 2022. His wife, Neelam Devi, then won the bypoll.

The Election Commission on Saturday transferred Patna Superintendent of Police (Rural) Vikram Sihag following Yadav's murder in Mokama.

It also ordered the appointment of new officials to replace the sub-divisional officer of Barh, who is also the returning officer of the Mokama assembly seat, sub-divisional police officer Barh-1, and sub-divisional police officer Barh-2.

While ordering disciplinary proceedings against the three, it also directed that Abhishek Singh, the sub-divisional police officer of Barh-2, also be placed under suspension.

Bihar will vote in two phases on November 6 and 11, and the votes will be counted on November 14.