Noida: A month after TOI reported that gangster Anil Dujana could contest the upcoming zila panchayat polls, his 21-year-old wife Pooja is all set to file nomination for the election from ward number 2. This has been confirmed by the gangster’s lawyer.
Dujana, who has around 43 cases of murder, extortion and attempt to murder lodged against him across different police stations in western UP, walked out of jail in February after getting bail in different cases. And that month only, Dujana — who famously got married to his girlfriend Pooja on February 15, 2019 — visited the famous Dadi Sati temple in Dujana when he had come to the Surajpur court for a hearing.
The temple is revered by the Gujjar community, and politicians like former PMs Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee also paid visits to pay obeisance. Dujana’s visit to the temple led to buzz that he may once again contest the zila panchayat elections. His last attempt in 2016 led to a win with a sizable margin of 10,030 votes against Sangram Singh.
Dujana’s lawyer Jitendra Nagar said that Pooja purchased a nomination letter on Saturday and will soon file her papers. “Pooja would campaign for the polls soon after filing her nomination. My client wants to stay in his native village and work for the people. He wants to forget his past. Pooja hopes to win the election.”
Pooja also told a local news portal that her purpose was to bring her husband out of the crime world and improve his image. Dujana, orginally Anil Nagar, was first arrested in 2012 in connection with the murder of a food trader from Muzaffarnagar named Robin Tyagi. His name later surfaced in the BJP politician Vijay Pandit’s murder case.
This time, panchayat elections involve polls in five wards. While the SP has given the candidature to Geeta Bhati, the BSP has decided to field Jaywati Nagar.
Additional DCP (central Noida) Elamaran G said that so far, they do not have a written communication about Pooja’s nomination.