UP Minister convicted, gets one-year jail term

Prayagraj, Jan 26

A court in Prayagraj has convicted Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi in a 2014 case under sections 147 (punishment for rioting) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC during the Lok Sabha election campaign over eight years ago.

The court sentenced the Minister, who was taken into custody, to one-year imprisonment but released him on bail on his plea that he needed time to file an appeal against his conviction and also since the sentence awarded to him was less than three years' imprisonment.

At the same time, the court acquitted Nandi of the charges of allegedly committing atrocities on members of the Scheduled Caste community.

The court ordered the release of Nandi and two others on filing two bail bonds of Rs 20,000 each.

Special Judge (MP/MLA court) Dinesh Chandra Shukla passed the above order after hearing the arguments of district government counsel (criminal) Gulab Chandra Agrahari, assistant district government counsel Sushil Kumar Vaish and Nandi's advocates.

The others convicted with Nandi were Neeraj Gupta and Nizamuddin. One Kamal was acquitted by the court.

Nandi was a Congress candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

One Venkat Raman Shukla had filed a complaint against Nandi and others. He alleged that on May 3, 2014, Samajwadi Party workers were assaulted when Nandi challenged them and casteist words were used against them.