Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court granted bail to former MP Dhananjay Singh on Saturday in connection with a 2020 kidnapping and extortion case. However, the court refused his plea to suspend or stay the seven-year imprisonment sentence passed by a district court.

While Singh will be released on bail following the high court's order, he remains ineligible to contest the election.

In March 2020, the MP-MLA court in Jaunpur had sentenced Singh and his associate Santosh Vikram to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for the kidnapping and extortion of Namami Gange project manager Abhinav Singhal.

Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh, after hearing the criminal appeal filed by Singh and his associate on April 24, reserved the order. The appeal was filed against the judgment passed by the special judge, Jaunpur MP/MLA, on March 6.

Singh's wife, Srikala Reddy, is contesting elections from the Jaunpur parliamentary constituency on the Bahujan Samaj Party ticket.

Singh was reportedly preparing to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Jaunpur seat. However, his conviction rendered him ineligible to contest the election.

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