Dhananjay Singh

Dhananjay Singh was born in Jaunpur on 16 July 1975 in a Rajput family.

According to the Lok Sabha, he is also involved in business and farming.

He first became known as a student activist when he attended Tilak Dhari (TD) College in Jaunpur.

In the late 1990s, he studied at Lucknow University and graduated with a master's in political science, and also started gaining notoriety around this time for his involvement in gang activity.

His opposition to the Mandal Commission recommendations increased his political popularity.

Between 1996 and 2013, Singh had been charged four times under the Gangster Act.

By 2022, he had been the subject of three dozen criminal cases, with ten still pending and others being dismissed or acquired, partially due to witnesses who later backed out.

In October 1998, it was claimed by police that they killed Singh in an encounter in Bhadohi while he was robbing a petrol pump.

However, he appeared in public alive four months later, leading to an investigation that filed cases on up to 34 officers for the false claim.

Dhananjay Singh is an Indian politician who served as the MLA for Rari now Malhani constituency, Jaunpur district in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from 2002 to 2009 as an independent candidate.

Singh married his first wife, Meenu, on 12 December 2006.

She died ten months later on 12 September 2007.

Family members claimed that she committed suicide.

He was Member of Parliament (MP) in the 15th Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2014 as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member.

Dhananjay Singh has drawn scrutiny for his alleged corruption and involvement in many cases, and has been described as a Purvanchal Bahubali politician and Mafia Don.

He married his second wife, Dr. Jagriti Singh, on 29 June 2009.

After mutual disagreement, they separated and he married his third wife, Srikala Reddy, a BJP politician, in 2017.

She won the Jaunpur zila panchayat (district council) chairperson poll in July 2021.