Both Dhananjay Singh and his associate have been sent to judicial custody (Representational)
A local court here on Tuesday held former MP Dhananjay Singh and one other guilty of kidnapping 'Namami Gange' project manager Abhinav Singhal, demanding extortion, abusing and threatening him.
Additional Sessions Judge Sharad Kumar Tripathi, after hearing both the factions, held Singh and his associate Santosh Vikram guilty in the matter. The punishment will be decided on Wednesday.
Both Dhananjay Singh and his associate have been sent to judicial custody.
Giving details of the case, District Government Counsel (Criminal) Satish Pandey said that Muzaffarnagar resident Abhinav Singhal had filed a case against Dhananjay Singh and his partner Vikram on May 10, 2020, at Linebazar police station under sections of kidnapping, extortion, conspiracy and others.
It was alleged that Vikram, along with two associates, kidnapped Singhal and took him to the residence of the former MP where Dhananjay Singh came with a pistol and abused him and pressurised him to supply low quality material. On refusal, he threatened and demanded extortion, it was alleged.
The former MP was arrested in this case and later got bail from the Allahabad High Court, Pandey said.
Dhananjay Singh, who served as the Member of Parliament in the 15th Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2014 as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member, is described as 'Purvanchal Bahubali'.
In 2011, BSP president Mayawati had expelled him from the party on charges of anti-party activities.
Presently with the Janata Dal (United), Dhananjay Singh had recently through a post on 'X' indicated his plans of contesting the coming Lok Sabha elections from Jaunpur seat.
He had won the election for the first time in 2002 from the Rari Assembly seat as an independent candidate.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)