Patna High Court on Wednesday set aside the conviction of muscleman and former four-time Mokama MLA Anant Kumar Singh aka “Chhote sarkar”, in two cases pertaining to the possession of illegal arms, ammunition and a bulletproof jacket.

These are some of the lacunae and anomalies in prosecution due to which the Patna high court acquitted Anant Kumar Singh:

• A box in which the police kept seized weapons and sealed it on August 18, 2019 yielding a Hindi newspaper dated August 27, 2019

• No videography or photography was done despite the police raid continuing for 12 to 14 hours

• All witnesses being police personnel

• Disappearance of a lock and key that was opened by the police to enter the house

• Lack of proper test of seized weapons and non-examination of key people connected to the case

Singh was convicted in both the cases by the special MP/MLA court and was awarded 10 years rigorous imprisonment in each of them. He is expected to walk out of the jail on Thursday.

The bench of Patna high court justice Chandra Shekhar Jha “quashed and set-aside” both the convictions and sentences and directed that Singh be “released forthwith”, if his presence is not required in any other case.

The first case was of 2015 in which six magazines of INSAS rifles and a sleeveless bulletproof jacket were recovered by the police from his government quarters at Mal Road in Patna, which was allotted to him as an MLA. The lower court convicted him in the case in 2022.

The second case was of 2019 in which an AK-47 assault rifle, magazines and two hand grenades were recovered from the then MLA Singh’s ancestral house at Nadawan village under Barh police station in Patna district, which was locked as nobody lived there. He was convicted in the case in 2022.

Singh’s membership of the legislative Assembly was terminated in 2022 following the convictions. He was a member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) at that time. His wife Neelam Devi contested the bypoll on RJD ticket and now represents Mokama Assembly constituency.

The gangster-turned-politician, previously a member of the Janata Dal United (JDU), was considered close to chief minister Nitish Kumar, and won the Mokama seat on the party ticket in 2005 and 2010.

However, he fell out with Nitish after the latter joined hands with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 2015. He was able to retain his seat in the 2015 Assembly polls as an independent candidate.

The falling out led to the raids and the arrest of Singh. Charges were leveled against him under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Arms Act and Explosives Act. He switched over to the RJD after Nitish returned to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2017, and won the Mokama seat on RJD ticket in 2020.

However, Singh joined hands with JDU and Nitish in January this year after the latter once again returned to the NDA fold after his 17-month stint at the helm of the Mahagathbandhan government. He was granted parole for 15 days in May during the Lok Sabha elections.