Warrant against dead Ex-MLA

In a major goof-up, a lower court in Dhanbad has issued arrest warrant against former legislator Suryadeo Singh who passed away in 1991.

Singh was named as an accused in a case filed against him at Jharia police station (then in undivided Bihar, but now in Jharkhand) in February 1987 (case No 99/1987).

Even though the trial was on, the police failed to inform the court, in all these 26 years, that Singh died in 1991.

Unaware, the court recently issued arrest warrant against him, besides other accused.

The court also fixed the next date of hearing on December 8.

"The court order is a result of lapses on the part of the police which neither informed the court about Singh's death nor ever submitted his death certificate to the judge concerned," the late MLA's family-lawyer Jawed Khan told local media in Dhanbad (now in Jharkhand).

What is the case?

The case relates to a complaint filed by a miner-loader Ramgarh Bind, who claimed that Singh recruited men of his choice in the coal mines. The case remained under wraps for years. Jharkhand High Court in 2015 asked the case to be reopened and probed.

Singh's widow Kunti Singh, who later succeeded him as legislator from the coal belt twice, said her late husband had been framed.

Who is singh?

Singh was a muscleman-turned-legislator and also a trade union leader in the coal belt. He was the founder president of Janata Majdoor Sangh and was quite close to former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar