Jailed don Anant Singh and his right-hand man, Bihar’s new Law Minister Kartikeya Kumar, have become a headache for the newly sworn-in Nitish Kumar-Tejashwi Yadav government in the state.
Anant Singh, the RJD’s leader from Mokama popularly called ‘Chote Sarkar’, was sentenced to 10 years in jail just two months ago and hence lost his assembly seat from the party. Reports have now emerged that he spent nearly 48 hours out of Saharasa jail last week when he was to appear in a court hearing for a few hours, but he also went to stay in his house in Pataliputra, Patna, and in a hospital. The BJP is alleging that it was also under Singh’s influence that his prodigy, Kartikeya Kumar, was made the law minister in the new government.
Kumar, who is popularly known as ‘Master Sahib’ given he was a school teacher earlier, also comes from Mokama and just a few months ago, was made an MLC from Patna by the RJD. Anant Singh is said to have played a key role from jail in the election of Kumar as an MLC and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad had himself announced his name for the post. Slogans of ‘Chote Sarkar Zindabad’ were raised after Kumar was sworn in as the state’s new law minister two days ago, explaining the close relations that Singh and Kumar share.
Controversy over Kumar
BJP has been attacking the new government since Kumar was sworn in as the law minister. The party is seeking his dismissal as he was named earlier in a kidnapping case and there is an arrest warrant against him. Kumar did not attend a court hearing on August 16 in the case when he took oath as the minister. This kidnapping case of builder Raju Singh dates back to 2014.
Lalu Prasad has stepped in Kumar’s defence, saying the allegations against him are wrong. Kumar himself held a hurried press conference in Patna on Wednesday to say a lower court has given him protection from arrest till September 1 and his application for anticipatory bail has been accepted by court for hearing. He has also claimed that police have given him a clean chit in the final investigation report.
A local court issued an arrest warrant against him on July 19 but the same was stayed on August 12 till September 1, Kumar says. He also adds that no chargesheet in any case has been filed by the police so far. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has meanwhile said he has no information of any arrest warrant against Kartikeya Kumar. On the other hand, action has been taken against various policemen and officials of Saharasa jail for the 48-hour-long sojourn out of jail for don Anant Singh.
For now, Singh and his prodigy Kumar are proving to be a headache for the chief minister.
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