RJD MLA Anant Singh gets 10-year jail in Arms Act case

Singh’s legislative Assembly membership is under threat now. His lawyers said the verdict will be challenged in the Patna High Court.

Singh, who has been an MLA since 2005 and switched sides from the JD(U) to the RJD, was convicted in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case in which AK-47 rifle, 22 cartridges and two bombs were recovered from his Ladma village of Barh near Patna. He and one of his accomplices were booked under the Arms Act, Indian Explosives Act and sections of the IPC. Singh, who first evaded arrest, had surrendered before a Delhi court.

Anant Singh, younger brother of former RJD minister Dilip Singh or “Bade Sarkar”, had come close to Nitish Kumar before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and later contested successfully as a JD(U) nominee in 2005 and later in 2010 Assembly elections. In 2015 Assembly elections, Singh contested as an Independent and won. He then switched to RJD and retained his Assembly seat in 2020.