Hearing of bail petition of Anant Singh adjourned till Nov 7

Patna :03-Sep-2007.

A local court on Saturday adjourned till November 7 the hearing of the bail application of Bihar's JD(U) MLA Anant Singh, arrested in connection with Thursday's attack on journalists, after calling for the case diary and injury report of the two scribes of a private newschannel.

Patna Chief Judicial Magistrate Raghavendra Singh adjourned the hearing of the petition for bail after seeking the two documents in connection with the assault on NDTV reporter Prakash Singh and cameraperson Habib Ali.

The court also issued a warrant for production on the same day of the MLA, at present lodged in Beur jail here, in connection with a case of assault separately lodged by cameraman of TV news agency Ajay Kumar.

Anant Singh had yesterday moved the CJM's court for bail in the two cases.

Anant Singh and four of his henchmen were arrested on Thursday for attacking and confining the journalists, who had gone to seek his comments on alleged rape and murder of a woman in which his involvement was suspected.

The woman named Reshma Khatoon had, in letters to the media, alleged that she was repeatedly raped by the MLA and his associates Mukesh Singh and Bipin Singh and that she feared for her life.

A man claiming to be the brother of Reshma had phoned NDTV saying he was told by the MLA that his sister had been killed and her body dumped by the roadside at a place under Shastri nagar police station.

Though the decomposed body of a woman was indeed found on Wednesday in the locality, the police could not confirm its identity as nobody came forward to claim it.

By Shamsheer (H)