Dhanbad, April 18: One of Coal Belt's most powerful men, Singh Mansion's Ramadhir Singh was awarded life term for murder by a Dhanbad court today around the same time his wife Indu, the city's mayor, was inaugurating a musical fountain at a park nearby.
The court of district and sessions judge VII Nikesh Kumar Sinha, which on April 9 found Ramadhir guilty of the 1998 murders of trade union leader Vinod Singh and his driver Mannu Ansari, awarded the life imprisonment today.
Like on April 9, Ramadhir, who also happens to be the chairman of the district board of Balia (Uttar Pradesh), was absent in court today.
Taking note of his absence, the court issued an arrest warrant against Ramadhir in two other cases.
In 2010, Ramadhir was accused of masterminding an attack on actress Mahima Chaudhary's road show in support of the Congress. A year later, Ramadhir, along with son Sashi and nephew Sanjeev, the present Jharia MLA, were named accused in the murder of former district treasurer of Congress and coal trader Suresh Singh.
After the sentence, Vinod's brother Dun Bahadur and son Amrit said they had expected Ramadhir to get capital punishment. "We were hoping for phansi (hanging) but he only got life term," the duo said while walking out of court.
Trade union leader Vinod was killed with driver Mannu near Bhagat Singh Chowk of Katras at 9.30am on July 15, 1998.
The duo were in an Ambassador car. Their assailants, following them in their Maruti, chased them till Katras, about 20km from Dhanbad city, opened indiscriminate fire and killed both.
At the time, the police claimed they recovered 36 bullet shells from the spot while the Ambassador was riddled with over 30 bullet holes.
The murder of trade union leader Sakaldeo Singh, Vinod's elder brother, occurred six months later, on January 25, 1999. Ramadhir and his older brother Bachcha were made accused but acquitted later. Bachcha and Ramadhir were also made accused in murder of coal trader Pramod Singh in October 2003 but exonerated.
Around the time husband Ramadhir was getting his life sentence, his wife Indu was the cynosure of flashbulbs as she laid the foundation for a musical fountain at Birsa Munda park.
Municipal elections coming up in May, if Indu is missing Ramadhir's presence as her political strategist, she did not show it. Inured by a long innings of public life, the Singh Mansion bahu displayed no nerves.
This is first conviction of any family member of Singh Mansion, established in Dhanbad by the late Suryadeo Singh, a coal union muscleman who rose the ranks to become the undisputed strongman of the region and many-time Jharia MLA. Ramadhir and Bachcha are his younger brothers.
Suryadeo's widow is former Jharia MLA Kunti Singh, whose son Sanjeev won Jharia in the 2014 Assembly elections.
