Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh):Former Member of Parliament Dhananjay Singh was granted bail on Saturday by the Allahabad High Court. However, the court refused his plea to suspend or stay a seven-year imprisonment sentence passed by a district court in a 2020 kidnapping and extortion case.
Singh cannot run for office, but he will be released on bail following the high court's ruling. A 2020 case involving the kidnapping and extortion of Namami Gange project manager Abhinav Singhal resulted in Singh and his associate Santosh Vikram being sentenced to seven years of harsh jail by the MP-MLA court in Jaunpur on March 6.
Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh had reserved the ruling following his hearing of the criminal appeal filed on April 24 by the former MP and his colleague. This appeal was filed against the judgement passed by the special judge, Jaunpur MP/MLA on March 6.
Srikala Reddy, Singh's spouse, is running for office on the Bahujan Samaj Party ticket in the Jaunpur parliamentary seat.
Singh was purportedly getting ready to run for the Lok Sabha from the Jaunpur constituency, but he was disqualified due to his conviction.