New Delhi: Gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan Singh, who walked out of jail on Tuesday after the Bihar government tweaked its prison rules, said that the rule was amended in accordance with the directives of the Supreme Court and High Court.
Speaking to ABP Live, he said that the previous rule was not applicable to him since "it was introduced in 2012" and he was punished in 2007.
Anand Mohan, 69, a former MP and leader of the Bihar People's Party, was found guilty of killing Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah in 1994. However, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar recently made modifications to the prison manual.
The Nitish Kumar-led government on April 10 tweaked the Bihar Prison Manual, 2012, removing the clause "murder of a public servant on duty" from the list of cases in which an accused person could not be released early on by the Bihar government.
When asked if the party's decision to release him from prison was an attempt to appease a certain section of society, Singh said, "I don't do caste-based politics. Our ancestors were freedom fighters... caste-based politics is not our legacy."
This is the third time in the last six months that Anand Mohan has been allowed to come out on parole. He is currently out on parole to attend the wedding of his eldest son, RJD MLA Chetan Anand.
Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav attended the engagement function of jailed Anand Mohan Singh's son and RJD MLA Chetan Anand.
Anand Mohan, a Tomar Rajput, was elected an MP from the Seohar Lok Sabha seat in Bihar in 1996 while still in jail. Over the course of his career, he was accused of numerous other serious crimes.
Anand Mohan, the son of a freedom fighter, was given the death penalty in 2007 by the Patna High Court for assisting in the crime.
This made him the first Indian politician to receive the death penalty since Independence and ended his political career as far as fighting polls were concerned. In 2008, the sentence was reduced to strict life imprisonment.