Former BSP MP arrested on extortion charges

Former Bahujan Samaj Party MP Dhananjay Singh was arrested on Monday in connection with alleged kidnapping of an Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam project manager with the intent to grab a contract of material supply in construction of sewage treatment plant in Jaunpur.

Former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Dhananjay Singh was arrested on Monday in connection with alleged kidnapping of an Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam (UPJN) project manager with the intent to grab a contract of material supply in construction of sewage treatment plant (STP) in Jaunpur, said police officials.

Superintendent of police (SP) of Jaunpur, Ashok Kumar-III said the former MP was arrested from his house under Line Bazaar police station limits early morning on Monday and sent to 14-day judicial custody by a court of chief judicial magistrate.

UPJN project manager Abhinav Singhal had registered a case against him at Line Bazaar police station on Sunday night.

“Along with former MP, his aide Vikram Singh and two other unidentified persons, involved in kidnapping the project manager have also been named in the FIR registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 364 (kidnapping with intent to murder), 386 (extortion by putting person’s life under threat), 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation),” said another police official associated with the case.

According to the FIR, Singhal alleged that the former MP’s aide Vikram Singh was randomly calling him on his mobile number asking to meet Singh at his house since May 4. He said he had earlier met former MP before Holi when he was pressurised to allow contract for supply of aggregate sand used in the construction of the STP.

“On May 10, Vikram, along with two others, visited the project manager’s place and forcibly took him along in a SUV to the former MP’s place. He was held captive there for over an hour and the former MP threatened him holding pistol in his hand as well as hurled abuses,” the FIR reads and added, “The former MP then talked to the UPJN MD Mohan Lal Singhal after which he freed the project manager after assurance on the contract.”

“The material supplied by the former MP’s aide was of poor quality following which their supply contract was cancelled. The project manager stated that the former MP’s aides were forcibly trying to supply low quality material,” the FIR further stated.

The project manager had apprehended threat to his life while registering the FIR.

He was reluctant to talk about the case when approached over phone.

He said he had been trapped in a net and unable to think what to do further in the case.

The role of the mafiosi-turned politician is also under scanner in the killing of gangster Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi.

Bajrangi was shot dead inside Baghpat district jail by another gangster Sunil Rathi on July 9, 2018. Bajrangi’s wife Seema Singh had alleged the involvement of the former MP by hatching the entire conspiracy from outside the jail and getting it executed through Sunil Rathi. The Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the case.