Jaunpur (UP), Jul 3 (PTI) A special court here on Thursday acquitted former MP Dhananjay Singh in a 15-year-old double murder case.

After hearing arguments and reviewing evidence, Special Judge (MP-MLA court) Sadiq Siddiqui pronounced Dhananjay Singh not guilty.

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According to government counsel Lal Bahadur Pal, the case dates back to April 1, 2010, when Sanjay Nishad and Nandlal Nishad were shot dead at Belawa Ghat in the Kerakat police station area allegedly over a contract dispute.

Dhananjay Singh, who was a BSP MP at the time, along with Ashutosh Singh, Puneet Singh and two others, was named as accused in the case. Although the police initially gave a clean chit to all the accused, the CBCID later filed a chargesheet against them following its investigation.

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The case was first heard in the court of Additional District Judge M P Singh and later transferred to the special MP-MLA court.

In 2024, Dhananjay Singh was briefly sent to jail in a case of extortion and kidnapping before being granted bail by the Allahabad High Court.

In 2002, Dhananjay Singh contested the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls as an independent and was elected from Rari, now Malhani constituency, in Jaunpur district. In 2007, he was again elected as an MLA from the same constituency on the Janata Dal (United) ticket.

Later, he switched sides and joined the BSP. He was MP from 2009-2014.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)