Kartik Kumar, the law minister in Bihar, is accused of committing serious crimes such as stealing, kidnapping, rioting, causing damage to public property, and possessing lethal weapons. In April of this year, he was elected as an MLC from Patna on the RJD banner. He is seen as being linked to don-turned-politician Anant Singh, who is currently imprisoned in Beur after being found guilty in two incidents involving the seizure of illicit firearms and ammunition.
The Law Minister, Kartik Kumar, stated publicly that—”Yes, Anant Singh Ji and I are close. I’ve been collaborating with him ever since. I oversaw all of his work as an MLA for the previous 17–18 years. Later, Kartikeya Singh’s attorney, Madhusudan Sharma, told the media that “the police have exonerated Mr Singh from the matter in their most recent charge sheet and the court has granted interim protection until September 1, 2022.”
As the new Law Minister of the new Cabinet established on August 16, Mr Kartikeya Singh took the oath of office. Following his conviction in instances involving the retrieval of high-tech weaponry and ammunition from his ancestral home. Anant Singh, a multiple-term MLA from Mokama, is currently being held at Patna’s Beur jail. On an RJD ticket, Kartikeya Singh was elected as an MLC for Patna in April of this year.
Prior to this, on July 14, at the Bihta police station, a warrant of arrest was issued against Kartikeya Singh in connection with the kidnapping of a builder named Rajiv Kumar under Sections 363, 364 and 365 of the Indian Penal Code. On August 16, Kartikeya Singh was scheduled to appear in court in Danapur, but instead, he travelled to the Raj Bhavan to take his oath as the new Law Minister.
Kartikeya Singh was given “no coercive” status by Danapur’s Third Additional District and Session Judge till September 1. Kartikeya Singh claimed that the charges against him were not true and that there was no warrant for his arrest.
Sushil Kumar Modi, a prominent state-level BJP official and the party’s Rajya Sabha representative, requested Nitish Kumar to “immediately remove” Kartikeya Singh from the Cabinet. “How could Kartikeya Singh take his oath as Law Minister on the same day that a warrant for his arrest had been issued and he was required to appear in court? The “jungle raj” is back in Bihar,”, Sushil Modi told reporters in Delhi. According to Modi, the “Mahagathbandhan” government’s new cabinet is full of corrupt officials like Surendra Yadav, Ramanand Yadav, Lalit Yadav, Kartikeya Singh, and others.
In similarly, senior State BJP leader and former Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned how a lower court could provide Kartikeya Singh interim relief in a case where the High Court denied his bail petition and ordered him to surrender. However, Kartikeya Singh was backed by Congress politician Kanhaiya Kumar, who claimed that “suits are filed against those in politics, even on a trivial basis.”
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), more than 70% of the recently sworn-in ministers in Bihar have filed criminal charges against themselves. According to the ADR report, 17 ministers (53%) and 23 ministers (72%) have both announced “serious criminal cases” against them.
