1 hour ago
3
ARTICLE AD BOX
3 min readPatnaMar 19, 2026 09:42 PM IST
Violence erupted when the campaign convoys of Jan Suraaj and the JD(U), led by Anant Singh, collided. (File photo)
The Patna High Court on Thursday granted bail to JD(U) Mokama MLA Anant Singh in connection with the murder of political worker Dular Chand Yadav, who was killed during the Bihar Assembly election campaign last year.
Justice Rudra Prakash Mishra issued the order on a bond of Rs 15,000, while explicitly warning the legislator against any attempts to tamper with prosecution evidence or intimidate witnesses as the trial proceeds.
Yadav (75), who was campaigning for a candidate from Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party during the election, was killed on October 30, 2025. Singh was arrested on November 1 on allegations of orchestrating the killing.
Forensic details from the postmortem report revealed that Yadav died of cardiorespiratory failure triggered by shock, after suffering severe injuries to his heart and lungs caused by a hard and blunt object.
Despite his arrest and subsequent incarceration during the election cycle, Singh won the Mokama Assembly seat from behind bars. He defeated RJD challenger Veena Singh by a margin of more than 28,000 votes, solidifying a regional legacy that has seen his family control the constituency almost continuously since 1990.
Singh’s political career has been dotted with legal battles. After a conviction in a UAPA case led to his disqualification from the Assembly, he successfully transitioned the seat to his wife, Neelam Devi, in 2022. He was eventually acquitted in that case by the High Court.
Dularchand Yadav’s killing took place in Tartar village, within the Mokama constituency, a region notorious for its strongman politics. At the time, Yadav, a former RJD leader with a long history in the region, was campaigning for Jan Suraaj Party candidate Piyush Priyadarshi.
Story continues below this ad
Violence erupted when the campaign convoys of Jan Suraaj and the JD(U), led by Anant Singh, collided. While initial reports suggested Dularchand had been shot dead, his postmortem later revealed that the cause of death was cardiorespiratory failure triggered by blunt force trauma to the heart and lungs, consistent with allegations that he was run over by a vehicle after being shot in the leg.
The political fallout was immediate and intense. Anant Singh was named the primary accused in the FIR and was arrested on the night of November 1, 2025. Despite being in judicial custody, Singh contested the election and secured a victory. RJD candidate Veena Devi came second with 28,000 fewer votes.
The case also led to the suspension of two Station House Officers (SHOs) for negligence.
Santosh Singh is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express since June 2008. Expertise He covers Bihar with main focus on politics, society and governance. Investigative and explanatory stories are also his forte. Singh has 25 years of experience in print journalism covering Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. ... Read More
Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
English (US) ·