Bihar ‘bahubali’ jailed for IAS officer’s murder walks out of prison amid protests

PATNA: One of Bihar’s “bahubalis” who dominated state politics in the 1990s, Anand Mohan Singh, sentenced to jail for life over the murder of a Dalit IAS officer, walked out of Saharsa jail on Thursday morning after 16 years in prison.
The former MP’s release has triggered widespread protests from Dalit politicians and the IAS association, with the Nitish Kumar government facing flak for amending prison rules to facilitate the move, but Anand Mohan’s supporters “celebrated” the occasion in his hometown in Saharsa and in several other districts.Apprehensive of protests over his release, the administration was on its toes.
“Anand Mohan was freed from jail early this morning, but we are very much alert to the situation. Right now, everything is peaceful,” deputy SP (headquarters), Saharsa, Md Azaz Hafiz Mani, said.

Amid a political outcry and PILs filed against the release order, the state government has been hardpressed to defend the change in prison rules that allowed the remission of Anand’s sentence.
“Be it Anand Mohan or 26 others, they were released under a rigorous standing procedure that is followed before rajya dandadesh parihar parishad recommends the release of the prisoners serving the life term,” chief secretary Amir Subhani said.
The chief secretary added that Anand Mohan had served life term for 15 years, nine months and 25 days, and with the “parihar” (good behaviour) period, it came to 22 years and 13 days.