A week before the Munger Lok Sabha constituency goes to polls on May 13 in the fourth phase, Bihar’s gangster-turned-politician Anant Kumar Singh, a four-time MLA from Mokama, and popularly known as “Chhote Sarkar”, was on May 5 released from the Beur central jail on a 15-day parole on the ground of “resolution of his ancestral land”. In August 2019, Singh surrendered in the arms case in a Delhi court and since then he has been languishing in Patna’s Beur jail as the MP-MLA court in Patna had awarded him 10 years’ imprisonment in the case.
Mokama falls in the Munger Lok Sabha constituency from where the ruling JD(U) has fielded its former president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, who is a close associate of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and sitting MP. In 2020, Anant Kumar Singh had won the Assembly election from Mokama for the fourth time on the Rashtriya Janata Dal ticket but, he was disqualified as an MLA after his conviction in the arms case. One AK-47 rifle covered in carbon to avoid detection, two hand grenades and live cartridges were allegedly seized from Singh’s ancestral house. Later, his wife Nilam Devi won the Assembly polls on the RJD ticket from Mokama but, recently during the trust vote sought by the Nitish Kumar government in February 2024 in the Assembly, Ms. Devi supported the government.
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Soon after his release from jail on parole on Sunday morning, Singh, wearing his trademark black sunglasses and white shirt and trousers, reached Sabneema village of Barh in a cavalcade of over 100 SUVs and rallied support for the JD(U) candidate from Munger, Mr. Lalan Singh. Whan asked about Ashok Mahto’s wife contesting polls from Munger against the JD(U) candidate, Anant Kumar Singh said, “I’ve not heard his [Ashok Mahto] name”. He later reached his village Nadawan in Barh.
Faces many cases
Beur central jail superintendent Jitendra Kumar said, “Anant Kumar Singh was released on parole on 15 days granted by the State Home department for the resolution of his ancestral land”. A parole from jail is generally granted on the grounds of sickness, death, marriage, property dispute, education or any other sufficient reasons, senior advocate of the Patna High Court Mukesh Kumar told The Hindu. Anant Kumar Singh’s name, though, spells terror among citizens of Munger, Mokama, Barh and Lakhisarai areas as according to his 2020 election affidavit, as many as 38 criminal charges, including seven murders, 11 attempts to murder and four cases of kidnapping are lodged against him.
The RJD-led mahagathbandhan, however, this time has fielded Anita Kumari Mahto, wife of another bahubali (strongman) of the area and main accused in the Nawada jail break incident (2001) and Apsadh massacre (2000) and murder of former MP Rajo Singh (2005), Ashok Mahto. Mahto, 57, was released from jail after 17 years in November 2023 and married Anita Kumari, 45, in March 2024. His wife got the RJD ticket to contest the Munger Lok Sabha seat.
“It seems to counter bahubali of Backward Caste Ashok Mahto in the poll, the rival party must have brought in another bahubali of the area from upper caste, just a week ago of the poll, Anant Singh to garner support”, senior journalist of Munger Srikrishna Prasad said. Earlier too, the Nitish Kumar government allegedly had tweaked jail manual laws to facilitate release of another strongman of north Bihar, Anand Mohan Singh, whose wife Lovely Anand is contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Sheohar on a JD(U) ticket. Singh served jail term in the case of the murder of Gopalganj District Magistrate G. Krishnaiah.
Meanwhile, RJD leaders alleged that the “timing of the release of Anant Singh from jail raises eyebrows and they [JD-U] this time want to win elections with the support of bahubalis (strongmen)”. State JD(U) president Umesh Kushwaha said “their [strongmen] release from jail are all legal issues and we’ve nothing to do with all these”.
