Former DSP Shailendra Singh said he was forced to resign by Mulayam Singh government in 2004 within 15 days after he slapped the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) on gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari. He also recovered a light machine gun from Ansari. "Twenty years ago...his empire was at its peak...He moved...in open jeeps in areas where curfew was imposed," Singh revealed.