New Delhi: A special court in Patna on Tuesday (June 21) sentenced Bahubali RJD MLA Anant Singh to 10 years imprisonment in the AK-47 seizure case. In 2019, an AK-47 rifle, two grenades and 26 live cartridges were recovered from Anant Singh’s home in his native village and on June 14, an MP-MLA court convicted him of the crime. Apart from Anant Singh, his housekeeper Sunil Ram has also been sentenced to 10 years in jail. MP-MLA Court Judge Triloki Dubey has announced the maximum punishment to the RJD MLA and his caretaker.
His conviction in the case may cost him his legislature in the Bihar Assembly. Anant Singh is currently the MLA from Mokama Assembly Constituency of Patna District.
Sunil Singh, counsel for Anant Singh (defense lawyer), confirmed the quantum of sentence to be 10 years in prison.
Singh said, “We will appeal in the High Court to challenge the decision of the MP-MLA court. If we take a stay from the High Court against this decision, Anant Singh’s legislature will continue.”
This morning, Anant Singh reached the MP-MLA court in Patna’s Pirbahor area in a jail ambulance.
On 16 August 2019, under the leadership of the then City SP Lipi Singh, a team of Patna Police raided the house of Anant Singh in his native village Nadwa under Barh police station. According to the theory of the police, the raiding team had seized one AK-47 rifle, 26 live cartridges and two grenades. While the AK-47 rifle was hidden in a hut behind a large compartment, grenades were recovered from the adjoining hut.
Police said the AK-47 was uniformly wrapped in a plastic bag, followed by layers of carbon, to avoid detection in metal detectors during transport.
Anant Singh was not in Bihar at the time of the raid. He fled to Delhi and surrendered before the trial court there. The Bihar Police took him into custody and put him behind the bars of Patna Beur Jail. Since then he is lodged in Beur Jail.
During the three-year trial of the case, the prosecution produced 13 witnesses and their statements were recorded in the court. The defense also produced 34 witnesses in the court.
The trial of the case was completed on June 13 and he was convicted on June 14.