Prayagraj, 27 April (HS): The Allahabad High Court granted former MP Dhananjay Singh bail on Saturday, but denied his request to postpone or delay a seven-year prison sentence imposed by a local court in a 2020 abduction and extortion case. Singh will be granted bail following the high court judgment, but he will be unable to run for office.

On March 6, the MP-MLA court in Jaunpur convicted Singh and his collaborator Santosh Vikram to seven years in prison in a 2020 abduction and extortion case involving Namami Gange project manager Abhinav Singhal. Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh reserved the ruling after hearing the former MP's and associate's criminal appeal on April 24.

This appeal was filed against the March 6 judgment of the special judge, Jaunpur MP/MLA.

Singh's wife, Srikala Reddy, is running for office in the Jaunpur parliamentary constituency on the Bahujan Samaj Party ticket. Singh was apparently planning to run for Lok Sabha in the Jaunpur constituency, but his conviction disqualified him.

Hindusthan Samachar/Abhishek Awasthi/Indrani