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Bihar MLA Anant Singh's Name Crops Up In Murder Case, Opposition Demands His Arrest

Bihar MLA's Name Crops Up In Murder Case, Opposition Demands His Arrest
Member of Bihar's ruling Janata Dal (People's Party), Anant Singh (R) waits in the police van on his arrest prior to being sent to Beur Jail in Patna, 01 November 2007. A ruling party lawmaker in India's eastern Bihar state suspected of links to an alleged rape and murder was arrested after his guards and supporters beat up a television crew. A police spokesman in the state capital Patna said Anant Singh, a member of Bihar's ruling Janata Dal (People's Party), was charged with the abduction and assault of a two-member crew from a private television station. AFP PHOTO/ Sonu KISHAN (Photo credit should read STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)
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Member of Bihar's ruling Janata Dal (People's Party), Anant Singh (R) waits in the police van on his arrest prior to being sent to Beur Jail in Patna, 01 November 2007. A ruling party lawmaker in India's eastern Bihar state suspected of links to an alleged rape and murder was arrested after his guards and supporters beat up a television crew. A police spokesman in the state capital Patna said Anant Singh, a member of Bihar's ruling Janata Dal (People's Party), was charged with the abduction and assault of a two-member crew from a private television station. AFP PHOTO/ Sonu KISHAN (Photo credit should read STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)

After JD(U) MLA Anant Singh's name cropped up in a murder investigation in Bihar, the ruling party's ally RJD has called for his arrest.

Singh, a legislator in the Nitish Kumar government, had been named by those arrested in connection with the murder of one one Putush Yadav, Patna's outgoing police chief Jitendra Rana said on Tuesday.

Even as Rana was transferred out in a minor reshuffle, he told journalists that four people, arrested for kidnapping and murdering Yadav, have disclosed that they had acted at the behest of Singh, who is an MLA from Mokamah.

Bihar RJD spokesman Mundrika Singh Yadav told reporters today that victims families and locals confirmed the MLA's involvement, reported PTI. Yadav has sought Singh's arrest and Rana reinstatement as Patna police chief. His party would also meet the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to discuss this, he said.

Meanwhile, Singh has alleged that Rana has an old "enmity" against him, and that he was prepared for any police probe. Contrary to Yadav's assertions, Singh also presented relatives of three others who had been kidnapped along with the murdered man, who claimed Singh had in fact helped facilitate their escape.

Patna: Bihar police at JDU MLA Anant Singh's residence, Singh is an accused in a murder case. pic.twitter.com/RCZK8WhB6D

— ANI (@ANI_news) June 24, 2015

State JD(U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar said Rana's transfer has nothing to do with the case and asserted law would take its own course. Singh has been arrested earlier for assaulting journalists in 2007.

Bihar Congress Party president Ashok Choudhary said the chief minister has always said that nobody would be shown any favour, and he said the party was sure that law would take its own course in the present case.

The incident has snowballed into a political controversy, with the opposition leader in the Bihar assembly, Nand Kishore Yadav, citing the event to allege that the law and order situation has taken a beating in the state since BJP walked out of the government. The BJP is getting ready for the state's assembly elections in November this year.

Expelled RJD MP and now leader of newly floated Jan Adhikar Party Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav has also pointed fingers on JD(U) MLA and has sought a CBI probe.

Meanwhile, the state police headquarters clarified that transfer of Jitendra Rana and other police officers was for administrative reasons and not linked with the kidnapping and murder on June 17 in connection with which JD(U) MLA Anant Singh's name had cropped up.

"Transfer of Patna SSP Jitendra Rana and seven other IPS officers two days ago was purely for administrative purposes and has nothing to do with the Barh incident," Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Sunil Kumar told reporters.

Promising an "impartial" probe into the incident, Kumar said, "Law is the same for everybody and it would be equally administered." He said six persons have been arrested so far in connection with the June 17 incident which suggests it was a fallout of "fight for supremacy" in the Nadma village.

Two are still absconding in the case and search is on for them.

Kumar said one among those arrested said he received message on his mobile that "instruction" had come from MLA Anant Singh. "If credible evidence comes police will question Anant Singh in the case," he said.

(with PTI inputs)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.