Orissa BJP MLA Manoj Pradhan gets 7 years jail term
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Bhubaneswar ( Orissa) : In a major setback to the BJP and Sangh Pariwar, a Fast Track Court hearing the 2008 Kandhamal communal riots, on Tuesday sentenced Saffron party MLA Manoj Pradhan to seven years rigorous imprisonment.
The court also convicted and awarded another person in the case. Pradhan was acquitted in a few cases earlier for want of evidence.
Five more cases pertaining to the riots are still pending before the court.
Pradhan was as elected as a Member of the State Legislative Assembly from the G. Udaygiri constituency in Kandhamal in the elections held last year.
He had fought the poll from behind the bars. He was subsequently granted bail by the High Court.
About 40 persons belonging to the Christian community were killed down during the riots that started soon after the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmanananda Saraswati on August 23 that year.
Hundreds of houses, churches and prayer houses were damaged and burnt down. A nun was also raped during the riots when violence continued in different parts of the district.
The Naveen Patnaik, Government, which had snapped its ties with BJP in the aftermath of the riots, had set up two fast-track courts for trial in the riots case.
The court also slapped a Rs 6,500 fine on him.
