The Allahabad High Court on Saturday granted bail to former Jaunpur MP Dhananjay Singh in a high-profile case linked to kidnapping and extortion. With the bail approval, the court however refused his plea to suspend or stay a seven-year imprisonment sentence passed by a district court.
Significantly, the former MP was earlier today shifted from Jaunpur district jail to Bareilly jail after the MLA of the district lodged a complaint against him. The MLA had written a letter to the government for his transfer, saying that Dhananjay’s wife, Srikala Reddy, is contesting elections from the Jaunpur parliamentary constituency on the Bahujan Samaj Party ticket. The MLA alleged that Singh was pressuring the locals to support Reddy in elections by calling them to jail. He urged that, in such circumstances, his stay in the district jail is not justified.
Elaborating on the development, Jaunpur Superintendent of Police (SP) Ajay Pal Sharma said, in compliance with the government order, the former MP was sent from the district jail here to Bareilly jail at 8 a.m. on Saturday.
Meanwhile, on March 6, Singh and his associate Santosh Vikram were found guilty in the case of the kidnapping and extortion of Namami Gange project manager Abhinav Singhal. He was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, and since then he has been lodged in Jaunpur district jail.
Singh was reportedly eyeing contesting the Lok Sabha elections 2024 from Jaunpur as Janata Dal’s (United) candidate. However, his conviction in the case made him ineligible to contest the election.
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