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Synopsis

The Allahabad High Court has recently admitted the criminal appeal preferred by former Member of Parliament Dhananjay Singh and his aide in connection with a case of abduction and extortion of a project manager of Jal Nigam in 2020.

The appeal has been filed by the former MP and co-accused Santosh Vikram Singh under Section 374(2) CrPC.

The bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar highlighted that the notice of the appeal had already been served in the office of the Government Advocate on March 13, 2024, and till date, no objection had been filed by the State.

Therefore, upon accepting the plea, the court summoned the record from the MP-MLA court in Jaunpur, which had sentenced the politician to seven years in jail in the matter.

Court posted the matter on April 24, 2024 for considering bail prayer and suspension of sentence of  Dhananjay Singh and Santosh Vikram Singh.

In the meantime, State may file objection, if any, by 22.04.2024, the single judge bench ordered. 

The FIR in the case was filed on May 10, 2020 under Sections 364, 386, 504, 506, 120B of the Indian Penal Code by Abhinav Singhal, the Jal Nigam project manager at Jaunpur. Singhal alleged that Santosh Vikram Singh and his accomplices abducted him at gunpoint, took him to Dhananjay Singh’s residence in Jaunpur, where he was held captive and threatened for over an hour for the accused wanted to secure the material supply contract for a sewage treatment plant project he oversaw.

Jaunpur's MP-MLA court sentenced Dhananjay Singh and Santosh Vikram Singh to seven years of rigorous imprisonment on March 6 for abducting and extorting Singhal.

Case Title: Dhananjay Singh And Another v. State of U.P