VARANASI: Gangster-turned-politician
Dhananjay Singh
‘s plans to contest
Lok Sabha elections
came to an abrupt end when the MP-MLA court in Jaunpur sentenced him and his aide, Vikram Singh, on Wednesday to seven years in prison and fined then Rs 50,000 each in a four-year-old case of kidnapping, extortion and criminal conspiracy.
Dhananjay is a former BSP MP and Janata Dal (United) national general secretary.
Jaunpur district government counsel (criminal) Satish Pandey said that ADJ-IV (MP-MLA) Sharad Kumar Tripathi also sentenced them to another five years and imposed a penalty of Rs 25,000 each under IPC Section 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt). Jail terms of one and two years under IPC Sec 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation), respectively, were also awarded to them, Pandey said, adding that all prison sentences would run concurrently.On Tuesday, the court had convicted Dhananjay and his aide after which both were sent to the district jail following cancellation of bail granted in the past. Meanwhile, police had made tight security arrangements as hundreds of supporters of Dhananjay gathered in and around the district court during the hearing.
Dhananjay and Vikram, who were brought to court, were sent back to jail after the sentence was announced.
Dhananjay had earlier announced that he was keen to contest LS polls from Jaunpur. However, after JD(U) president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar sided with NDA, the party’s claim to the seat was vacated. Despite these developments, Dhananjay had announced he was in talks with the INDIA bloc and preparing to contest from Jaunpur as an Independent. As Dhananjay’s jail term is of more than two years, he will not be able to contest elections unless he gets relief from a higher court.
On May 10, 2020, Jaunpur’s Line Bazaar police had booked the two men based on a complaint by Abhinav Singhal, project manager of a company engaged by UP Jal Nigam (UPJN) for sewage projects. In his complaint, Singhal had alleged that while handling a Rs 300 crore project laying sewer lines under a sewage treatment plant, Dhananjay had forced his firm and nigam officials to buy sand from him despite their rejecting it due to poor quality in the past. He also alleged that he was threatened repeatedly by Dhananjay’s goons and forcibly taken to his place where he was threatened with dire consequences at gunpoint. The MD of his Delhi-based company, which had handled the STP project since 2014, was also threatened over the phone. A Jal Nigam official was also pressured over the phone by Dhananjay to approve the quality of his sand, he added.
