Congress MLA gets 3 yr jail term

Additional Sessions Judge V K Bansal,who had held them guilty on June 4 under various penal provisions relating to attempt to murder and house trespass,considered the defence plea that the MLA,in his late 60s,was an old man and was not a previous convict.

The court said that though the maximum punishment prescribed under section 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC is life imprisonment,the convicts deserved a lenient sentencing as “mitigating circumstances outweighed the aggravating ones”.

The court,which also imposed a fine of Rs 60,000 on them,granted the bail on furnishing of a personal and surety bond of Rs 30,000 each till the statutory period of 90 days for enabling them to file the appeal in the Delhi High Court.

Besides the father-son duo,others convicts in the case are Kunwar Nawab Singh and Manoj. They claimed that the case was lodged to settle a political score as the victim had lost the assembly election against the MLA.

An FIR was registered with Tilak Nagar Police Station on December 11,2003 on the complaint of Sudesh Chandela,alleged political opponent of the convicts,claiming that they had tried to kill him.

The victim had loaned Rs 50,000 to Sufi,a resident of a slum cluster West Delhi.

As the borrower absconded,Sudesh locked his ‘jughhi’ which became a bone of contention between him and Manoj,one of the accused who wanted to occupy the house,the prosecution said.

The dispute became violent on December 11 when the accused,armed with swords and wooden sticks,attacked the victim at the instance of the MLA,it said.

Later,the convicted lawmaker said he will challenge the verdict in the high court and alleged frame-up in the case owing to his political rivalry with the victim.

“I am innocent. I was not at the spot. It is an effort to defame me and my family members who are in politics,” the MLA told reporters outside the court premises.