But he was an undertrial — fighting to prove his innocence in 67 cases the police had slapped on him. Acquitted in the very last one on Tuesday, he was discharged.

Of the cases, three were under the Gangster Act, over ten pertained to firing on the police. Then there were cases under the NDPS Act, Arms Act — all because of “political vendetta”, said Singh.

The police maintain that he is indeed a criminal, but are not sure of the total number of cases against him. Their records mention 49 — 41 lodged at the Banthara police station and eight at the Sarojini Nagar police station.

“Shera had been in jail for a long time, we have to verify old records,” said Sadhu Ram, SHO of Sarojini Nagar police station. Asked how a criminal can manage to get an acquittal in so many cases, Senior Superintendent of Police, Lucknow, Akhil Kumar, said he did not have the details of Singh’s cases as were “lodged several years ago”.

“But we will see how he got acquittal in all the cases. Action will be taken against police officers if negligence was found on their part,” he added.

The details of the case in which Singh was acquitted by a fast track court on Tuesday are interesting.

The case was registered in 1995 after Singh allegedly fired at the staff of a petrol pump at Anari, when they asked him to pay after his petrol tank was filled. When the police were called in and tried to intervene, he was said to have fired at them too.

Singh’s counsel pointed out in court that there was no statement of the petrol pump staff on record, nor was there a eyewitness account of policeman that said Singh fired at them. Last but not the least, no one was injured.

Singh, now 48, accuses the police of ruining his life. “It has been proved that I am innocent. By putting me behind the bars for 20 years, the police ruined my life and my family business,” he said.

Singh was in the real estate business when he first went to jail in 1989 — he doesn’t remember the case. When he lost his mother, he could not attend her last rites. And since he had been in jail, he had not been able to get married.

His lawyer Vivek Srivastava said they were planning to file a damages suit of Rs 1 crore against the state.

Singh said his problems began when he contested the Assembly election in 1989 from the Sarojini Nagar seat. An Independent, though he did not win, he garnered the second highest number of votes. This, he said, did not please some politicians, who saw him as an emerging threat.

One after the other, he was framed in criminal cases. In jail, he was often harassed and kept in isolation, said his brother Rakesh.