JD(U) candidate Anant Singh sent to 14-day judicial custody in Mokama murder case

A Patna court on Sunday remanded Janata Dal (United) candidate Anant Singh and two associates to 14-day judicial custody in connection with the alleged murder of Jan Suraaj Party supporter Dular Chand Yadav.

Singh, a former Bihar MLA, and his aides, Manikant Thakur and Ranjeet Ram, were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Patna after their arrest in the case.

“The court sent Singh and two others to judicial custody for two weeks,” Singh’s lawyer Naveen Kumar told reporters. They were subsequently taken to Beur Jail in Patna.

Police had taken Singh into custody from his residence in Barh, around 200 km from Patna, following Yadav’s death. Officials said the former MLA had been under watch after Yadav allegedly clashed with Singh’s supporters in the Mokama area. Singh and the two others were arrested in the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

Yadav died on Thursday while campaigning for Jan Suraaj Party candidate Piyush Priyadarshi in Mokama.

A post-mortem examination indicated cardiorespiratory failure due to shock caused by injuries to the heart and lungs by a hard and blunt object, police officials said. Preliminary findings pointed to a case of murder, they added, noting that all three accused were present at the scene.

Police said four FIRs have been registered, including one related to model code of conduct violation. Singh has been named as an accused along with four others in an FIR lodged on the basis of a complaint by Yadav’s grandson.

Singh, regarded as a local strongman and a multiple-term former MLA, faces several criminal cases. His wife, Neelam Devi, currently represents the Mokama constituency in the Bihar Assembly. He has also been booked for violating the election model code amid reports of large convoys accompanying him during the campaign, officials said.

With PTI inputs