Gangster, Murder Convict, Politician: 5 Facts On Bihar's Anand Mohan Singh

Founder of the now-defunct Bihar People's Party (BPP), Anand Mohan Singh was convicted in the 1994 murder of then Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah, who was killed by a mob allegedly provoked by Anand Mohan Singh. Mr Krishnaiah was attacked by a mob protesting with the body of Chhotan Shukla, another gangster-politician of Anand Mohan's party who was killed a day earlier.

Though the BJP has slammed the Nitish Kumar-led government for "leaning on a criminal syndicate to hold on to power", demands for his release came from leaders across party lines in Bihar as he still has significant clout in his caste group, Rajputs, who they can't afford to ignore. Anand Mohan Singh was one of the co-founders of the Samata Party along with Nitish Kumar.

The strongman, the grandson of freedom fighter Ram Bahadur Singh Tomar, was sentenced to death in 2007 by a lower court in Bihar. The Patna High Court, however, commuted it to life imprisonment; that order was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012. Prior to the reduction to this term on appeal, he had been the first politician in independent India to be given the death penalty.

The Bihar government had earlier removed the clause in the Bihar Prison Manual which had forbidden the remission of jail term for those convicted of murdering a public servant on duty, clearing the way for Anand Mohan Singh's release.

Anand Mohan's son Chetan Anand, an MLA from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), is set to get married on May 3 in Dehradun. BJP leaders have also been seen meeting him to congratulate him on his upcoming wedding.