New Delhi/Patna:
Former Bihar MP Anand Mohan Singh, who was released after serving more than 14 years in prison for complicity in the 1994 murder of an IAS officer, yesterday claimed innocence in the case.
The politician-turned-politician spoke for the first time after being transferred money by the government of Bihar, addressing a public event in Bihar’s Araria on Wednesday, saying he was “ready to be hanged if found guilty”.
“This land is nobody’s property. I believe in the law and the constitution and have served a prison sentence of more than 15 years without complaint. I am ready to be hanged if the government thinks I am guilty,” said the former MP.
Anand Mohan Singh left prison last month amid a huge row over the Bihar government’s change of prison rules that paved the way for his release.
The former MP’s release comes after Nitish Kumar’s government amended prison rules. Previously, anyone convicted in connection with the murder of an officer on duty was not eligible for a pardon. This was changed by the Bihar government, paving the way for the release of 27 convicts, including Singh.
Singh, who faced multiple cases, was found guilty of inciting a gang to lynch District Magistrate G Krishnaiah, a Dalit IAS officer, in 1994.
Mr. Krishnaiah was attacked by a mob protesting with the body of Chhotan Shukla, another gangster politician from Anand Mohan’s party, who was killed a day earlier.
Singh was sentenced to death by a lower court in 2007, but the Patna High Court later commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked for a response from the center and government of Bihar to a request to challenge the state government’s decision to release Anand Mohan Singh early.
The petitioner said that life imprisonment awarded to the gangster-turned-politician meant that he would have to imprison his entire natural course of life and that it cannot be automatically interpreted as a duration of only 14 years.