On July 11, 2015, sitting JD(U) legislator, Narendra Kumar, alias Sunil Pandey, was arrested in connection with the Ara bomb blast case on the basis of a statement by Sachidanand Sharma, alias Lambu Sharma, who is already under arrest. In his confessional statement, Lambu Sharma said the JD(U) MLA facilitated his escape from police custody and provided him shelter in Delhi. Sharma also admitted that Pandey gave him a Rs 50-lakh contract to kill Uttar Pradesh gangster-turned-MLA Mukhtar Ansari. On June 24, 2015, Patna police had arrested JD(U) MLA Anant Singh following the kidnapping and murder incident that took place at Barh on June 17. A week earlier, police had arrested two of his close aides - Bhushan and Ghanshyam - in connection with the murder of one Putus Yadav. They apparently claimed they were working at the behest of Anant Singh. Nitish Kumar with MLA Anant Singh during cosier times. These arrests of the two ruling party MLAs, within a span of under three weeks,