A district court here on Friday sentenced Madhya Pradesh Congress chief spokesman KK Mishra to two years jail term in a defamation case filed by the State Government on behalf of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Minutes after the verdict, the court presided over by Additional District and Sessions judge Kashninath Singh granted bail to Mishra, whose counsel said he will challenge the ruling in the High Court.
The court found Mishra guilty of making false and defamatory statements against Chouhan and his family. It also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the Congress leader. If Mishra fails to pay this fine, he will have to undergo additional three months of imprisonment.
Notably, on June 21, 2014, Mishra, addressing a press conference here, had alleged that19 people from Gondia, Maharashtra, home district of Sadhana Singh, Chouhan's wife, were illegally recruited as constables in the State transport department.
He had alleged the State transport constable recruitment test was part of the Vyapam scam - a massive admission and recruitment racket in Madhya Pradesh. Mishra had also levelled other allegations against Chouhan and his family.
Public prosecutor Anand Tiwari, on behalf of the State Government, in July 2014 had filed the defamation suit against Mishra, stating his vague allegations had damaged the status of Chouhan and his family members.
Judge Singh, after hearing both the parties and going through the materials on record, convicted Mishra.
"The court found Mishra's statements false. Nobody from Gondia made it to the transport department as a constable," Tiwari told reporters in the court premises.
Mishra's counsel Ajay Gupta said his client will move the Madhya Pradesh High Court against the verdict. "We are going to move the High Court against the lower court's verdict in the defamation case," Gupta added.
later, in the evening, special prosecutor in the case Jagdeesh Dubey also talked to the media. He stated that the case is a compoundable offence and even at this stage, the case could be withdrawn if the accused apologised.