Bihar news: A day after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expanded his new cabinet on Tuesday by inducting 31 new ministers, including a huge contingent of 16 from key ally RJD, controversy has erupted over the induction of RJD MLC Kartikeya Singh as the law minister of the state.
Kartikeya Singh was to surrender in Danapur court on August 16 in a kidnapping case but instead, he reached Raj Bhavan in Patna to take oath as the new minister in the Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar. On being quizzed by the India TV reporter Nitish Chandra about the tainted minister in the cabinet, Bihar CM replied, “I do not know, I have no information about this.”
The case against Kartikeya Singh
A case of kidnapping was registered against Karthikeya Singh and 17 others in Patna’s Bihta police station in 2014. He is accused of conspiracy to kidnap a builder with the intent to murder. A charge sheet has been filed in this case. A warrant was issued against Singh on July 14 2022 and he was to surrender on August 16 2022 but he went to take oath instead of surrendering to the court.
MLC of Rashtriya Janata Dal
Kartikeya Singh is the MLC of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He got a place in the Nitish cabinet from RJD quota. Kartikeya Singh, a resident of Mokama, has also been a teacher by profession. At the same time, Kartikeya Singh told India TV that all the cases are wrong. “There is no warrant against me. I have given all the information in the affidavit,” he told India TV reporter Nitish Chandra. Kartikeya Singh took oath as a minister in the Nitish cabinet yesterday. After taking oath, Nitish Kumar has entrusted the law ministry to Kartikeya Singh. He has been charged under several sections of IPC
including 363(kidnapping), 364 (kidnapping with intent to murder), 365 (Secret, unjustified kidnapping with intent to imprison), and 34 (The incident was committed by more than one person). Patna High Court had earlier rejected the anticipatory bail petition on 16 February 2017.
A close aide of former RJD MLA Anant Kumar Singh, a dreaded gangster-turned-politician
Kartikeya Singh is considered very close to Anant Singh. Former RJD MLA Anant Kumar Singh, who lost his membership of the assembly following conviction in a criminal case, was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in yet another matter relating to the recovery of arms and explosives from his residence. Singh, who is one of the most dreaded gangsters-turned-politicians spawned by the badlands of Bihar, was awarded the sentence by Special Judge, MP/MLA court, Triloki Nath Dubey, in the case relating to recovery of a bullet-proof jacket, some hand grenades and ammunition from his government accommodation in 2015.
Earlier, he was awarded the same quantum of sentence by the court in June in a 2019 case relating to the recovery of an AK-47 rifle, rocket launchers and hand grenades from his ancestral residence in Mokama. The former MLA has won the Mokama assembly seat five times on the trot as an Independent as well as on tickets of RJD and JD(U) of arch-rivals Lalu Prasad and chief minister Nitish Kumar respectively.
BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi said, “If Kartikeya Singh (RJD) had a warrant against him, he should have surrendered. But he has taken oath as Law minister.” “I ask Nitish, is he trying to take Bihar back to Lalu’s times? Kartikey Singh should be immediately dismissed,” he added.
The ‘Mahagathbandhan’, comprising the RJD, JD(U), Congress and the Left, has moved a no-confidence motion against Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, who belongs to the BJP. All the ministers from the JD(U), besides HAM’s Santosh Kumar Suman and Independent Sumit Kumar Singh, were members in the previous government. The Left is supporting the government from the outside.
