Facing a bounty of ₹25,000 in connection with the case of murder of a former block pramukh, former BSP MP and Purvanchal ‘strongman’ Dhananjay Singh on Friday surrendered before a special MP-MLA court in Prayagraj in an old case.
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His dramatic surrender in court came a day after the Lucknow police declared a reward on him for his alleged role in the conspiracy to murder Ajit Singh, a history-sheeter and former block pramukh from Mau, in January. In February, police then shot dead Girdhari alias Kanhaiya Vishwakarma, the alleged main accused in the case, and linked the dots to the former MP.
Mr. Singh, who was an MP from the BSP in 2009, is notorious for the criminal cases against him.
Along with his lawyer, Mr. Singh surrendered before special judge Alok Kumar Srivastava in relation to a criminal case in 2017. The judge accepted his surrender application and sent him to judicial custody till April 1, the next date of hearing.
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A large group of lawyers and policemen was seen at the court as Mr. Singh was escorted into a police vehicle.
A lawyer who briefed media on the matter said that Mr. Singh surrendered in FIR no. 687 of 2017 related to the violence during a no-confidence motion against a block pramukh in Khuthan police station in Jaunpur.
The lawyer said that after Mr. Singh’s name emerged in a fresh case, the Ajit Singh murder, Ashutosh Sharma, who had acted as his bondsman, submitted an application in court that Mr. Singh had violated the conditions of his bond that he would not get embroiled in any other criminal case and would cooperate with the court.
A reward of ₹25,000 was announced on Mr. Singh on Thursday by Lucknow police. DCP East Lucknow Sanjiv Suman said police were trying to dig out details about Mr. Singh's “illegal properties” and had sent recommendations to the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate for seizures. While four locations linked to Mr. Singh were already raided, Mr. Suman said police had been able to identify flats and farmhouses belonging to the leader in various districts of U.P. as well as in other States.
In the Malhani Assembly bypoll in October last, Mr. Singh, out of jail in an extortion case, gave the SP’s candidate a tough fight and stood second as an independent, losing by just over 4,600 votes.