New Delhi, May 8 (PTI): Romesh Sharma, an alleged frontman of don Dawood Ibrahim, was today sentenced to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in a Rs 1.22-crore Fera violation case.

This is the first case in which Sharma has been convicted. He is facing trial in a dozen more cases registered against him in 1999.

Sharma will also have to pay a fine of Rs 61 lakh, half the amount involved in the case under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.

Close to many politicians, he had even contested elections by forming his own party.

The court refused to be swayed by the submissions of Sharma’s counsel that he was 63 years old and a victim of conspiracy hatched by co-accused Ajay Nayyar. It also declined the plea to take a lenient view that if Sharma was sentenced to over two years, he would be barred from contesting polls.