LUCKNOW: Don-turned-politician Dhananjay Singh filed his nomination on a Janata Dal (United) ticket from Malhani constituency in Jaunpur district on Wednesday. A wanted criminal with at least 37 cases against him and a Rs 25,000 bounty on his head, the former MP went underground for a year after he was accused of orchestrating the murder of another gangster, Ajit Singh, in Lucknow on January 6 last year.
After Lucknow Police failed to arrest Dhananjay for over a year, the murder case was handed over to the Special Task Force (STF) in January this year. STF’s swift volte-face on Singh’s role in the murder, bolstered his electoral ambition to contest from Malhani, which will go to polls in the last phase on March 7. In 2017, Dhananjay Singh had contested from the same seat on a Nishad Party ticket, but lost.
Dhananjay’s first public appearance a month ago triggered furore with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav tweeting a video, which showed him playing cricket. Soon after the tweet, UP DGP Mukul Goel told mediapersons the case was being investigated and handed over to UP STF on January 7. Prior to wielding the willow, Dhananjay had made another public appearance in Jaunpur on November 14, 2021, when he presented awards to local cricketers.
When the STF probe was still underway, Dhananjay’s lawyer, Adarsh Singh, moved a surrender application in a Lucknow court. “We moved the surrender application on February 6 and the court sought a reply from the probe agency. STF told the court that Dhananjay was accused of minor charges, including harbouring the offender and not tipping-off police, hence both charges were bailable,” Singh said. Senior STF officers said when they began investigating the Ajit Singh murder case afresh, they found discrepancies in statements of the accused and there was no corroborative evidence on Dhananjay’s direct role in the murder. Two mobile phones seized from him are with the forensic laboratory in Lucknow and reports are still awaited.
Gangster Ajit Singh, who had over 40 cases against him, was shot near Kathauta crossing in Lucknow, leading to the arrest and chargesheet of 11 persons. On March 5 last year, the former MP had surrendered before MP/MLA court of Prayagraj in a 2017 case after his bail bond was cancelled.
