On Wednesday (6th March), the special MP/MLA court in UP’s Jaunpur sentenced former Jaunpur MP Dhananjay Singh to a seven-year jail term. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 75 thousand in the extortion and kidnapping of the project manager of Namami Gange Yojana, Abhinav Singhal.
#WATCH: A special court in UP's Jaunpur on Wednesday sentenced former MP Dhananjay Singh to a seven-year jail term in a case of extortion and kidnapping. pic.twitter.com/DcPB0q5Cvu
— IANS (@ians_india) March 6, 2024
A day earlier, Jaunpur’s Additional Sessions Judge Sharad Kumar Tripathi held Singh and his associate Santosh Vikram guilty in the matter. Singh and his aide were found guilty of kidnapping, demanding extortion, abusing and threatening the project Manager Singhal.
Details of the case
On 10th May 2020, Muzaffarnagar resident Abhinav Singhal filed a case against Dhananjay Singh and his partner Vikram at the Linebazar police station. The case was registered under sections of kidnapping, extortion, conspiracy and others.
According to reports, Vikram and his associates were accused of kidnapping Singhal and then taking him to the residence of the former MP Dhananjay Singh. When they reached his residence, Singh came with a pistol in his hand. At gun point, he abused and threatened him to give extortion and use construction material only from his sources which were rejected in the past for being of low quality.
In its order, the court noted that it has been proved that the accused forcibly called the plaintiff from his workplace to his home and intimidated and threatened him and the people of his company at gun point. Pressure was put on them that only and only the accused’s gravel and sand should be used in the Namami Gange project. Otherwise, the lives of the plaintiff and the people of his company will be in danger.
The former MP was arrested in this case and later got bail from the Allahabad High Court.
Described as “Bahubali of Purvanchal’, history-sheeter Dhananjay Singh already has several criminal cases pending against him, but this is the first time he has been sentenced in a case. He was elected MLA several times and MP on a BSP ticket. He served as the Member of Parliament in the 15th Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2014 as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member.
However, in 2011, BSP president Mayawati expelled him on charges of anti-party activities.
Presently with the Janata Dal (United), he had recently announced his intention to contest the Lok Sabha elections. However, because of his conviction in this case, he wouldn’t be able to contest the elections if the former MP fails to get respite from higher courts. Notably, those who receive a sentencing of two years or more, they get barred from contesting elections.
His lawyer stated that he will appeal to the High Court as soon as he receives a copy of the decision.
