Lucknow, Feb 21 (IANS): A non-bailable warrant has been issued against former BSP MP and mafia don Dhananjay Singh for conspiring the murder of Mau gangster Ajit Singh in Lucknow.

A sharpshooter, Giridhari, accused of killing Ajit Singh in Lucknow last month, was shot dead last week.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Sushil Kumari issued the non-bailable warrant against Dhananjay Singh.

Senior police officials said the role of the former BSP MP was being probed and evidence points to his involvement in the conspiracy.

Dhananjay owns a flat in Sharda Apartment, Gomti Nagar Extension, where four shooters who eliminated Ajit Singh had stayed.

Additional Depty Commissioner of Police, east zone, Qasim Abidi said that the murder was engineered to prevent Singh from testifying in court against mafia don Kuntu Singh, accused of killing former MLA Sarvesh Singh Sipu in 2013.

The Mau gangster was a witness and his testimony was crucial to the case.

Six shooters -- Shivendra Singh, Rajesh Tomar, Bunty, Ravi Yadav, Sandeep and Girdhari -- had opened fire on Ajit Singh and his aide in Lucknow on January 6. While Singh died, his aide suffered injuries.

Arrested shooter Sandeep had told police during interrogation that Bunty, Shivendra and Bandhan took Rajesh, who was injured in the shootout, to Dhananjay's flat from where he was rushed to a Sultanpur-based doctor.

It was later confirmed by the Sultanpur-based doctor that he had received a WhatsApp call from Dhananjay Singh on January 7, asking him to treat the injured gangster.