Prayagraj, Apr 27 (UNI) The Allahabad High Court on Saturday granted bail to former MP Dhananjay Singh in an almost four-year-old kidnapping and extortion case in which he was sentenced to seven years Rigorous Imprisonment(RI), prosecution sources said here.
Prosecution sources said that the single bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh while granting bail to Dhananjay refused to stay his conviction by the lower court. The former MP had filed a review petition in the High Court challenging his conviction by the lower court.
After hearing both sides the court reserved its judgment on April 25. Dhananjay Singh and his aide were sentenced to seven years of RI along with a penalty of Rs 50,000 each by a special court in Jaunpur on March 6.
On May 10, 2020, Abhinav Singhal, who was working as a Project Manager in the Namami Gange scheme in Jaunpur, lodged a case at Line Bazar police station against former MP Dhananjay Singh and his accomplice Santosh Vikram Singh on charges of kidnapping, extortion, criminal conspiracy and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The MP-MLA court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Sharad Kumar Tripathi had held Dhananjay and Santosh Vikram Singh guilty. While pronouncing the quantum of judgment the court sentenced Dhananjay and Vikram to 7 years RI along with a fine of Rs 50,000 for kidnapping, 5 years RI along with a fine of Rs 25,000, 1 year RI along with a fine of Rs 10,000 for intentional insult, 2 years RI along with a fine of Rs 15,000 and 7 years RI with a penalty of Rs 50,000 for criminal conspiracy.
Earlier, on Saturday morning Dhananjay was shifted to Bareilly District jail from Jaunpur jail amidst tight security arrangements. "The district administration had given him permission to transfer him to Bareilly jail after which he was shifted this morning amid tight security," they said.
It may be noted that Shrikala Singh, wife of former MP Dhananjay Singh is contesting Lok Sabha elections from Jaunpur on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket.
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