Ranchi, June 23: Ajsu leader Kamal Kishore Bhagat and a party colleague, who were convicted yesterday in a 22-year-old attempt to murder case centring around rangdari, were sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment by a local court that strongly censured the culture of extortion in the political circle of Jharkhand while justifying the stern punishment.

The court of additional judicial commissioner Krishna Kumar read out the sentence through videoconference to Bhagat, the legislator of Lohardaga till the conviction and sentencing disqualified him from the state Assembly, and A. Bodra, who were at Birsa jail in Hotwar, around 10km from the Ranchi civil courts.

A fine of Rs 10,000 each was also imposed on the duo.

Yesterday, both were held guilty of trying to kill a well-known neurophysician of Ranchi, Dr K.K. Sinha, on September 28, 1993 (not December 28, 1993 as reported in The Telegraph on Tuesday) after he allegedly refused to donate funds to Ajsu for a rally in Patna.

In the commotion that followed, the doctor's bodyguard opened fire in defence, killing an Ajsu Party worker, Sudarshan Bhagat.

Prosecution lawyer B.N. Sharma said: "The court used the deterrent theory of punishment to award the sentence after observing that rangdari by political persons is rampant in Jharkhand."

Defence lawyer Vikrant Sinha, however, said the court did not consider the witness of investigating officer. "Investigating officer of the case, sub-inspector M.N. Tiwary, informed the court that there was no violence inside the doctor's clinic. Rather, the body of an Ajsu worker, Sudarshan Bhagat, was recovered from the premises of the doctor's residence in Bariatu. But the court did not rely on these facts after 22 years of trial," Vikrant said.

He also refuted the rangdari charge, saying the dispute arose after Dr Sinha refused to attend a local patient, Mohammed Nayeem, out of turn.

"We will challenge the lower court's order in the high court," Vikrant vowed.

<>Following the attack and the firing, two FIRs were registered at Sadar police station.

While Ajsu workers accused Sinha, his son and bodyguards of killing Sudarshan, the other FIR was registered by Dr Sinha, who alleged Ajsu men of attacking him at his clinic. at the appropriate level. We will take appropriate action after thoroughly going through the judgment's copy, who won the Lohardaga Assembly seat last year by defeating state Congress president Sudarshan Bhagat, automatically stands cancelled. Chief electoral officer of the state P.K. Jajoria said: "The membership has been cancelled from yesterday, the date of conviction."

Assembly speaker Dinesh Oraon, however, said he had received no official word on this issue. "I don't have official information regarding conviction of Lohardaga MLA and thus I am not in a position to make any comment on the termination of his membership from the state Assembly."