BJP councillor, aide get 5 years in 2016 MLA attack case

A court in Maharashtra’s Gondia district has sentenced a BJP councillor and his aide to five years of imprisonment for manhandling a former MLA during a press conference in 2016.
District and Additional Sessions Judge AS Pratinidhi on Thursday found Shiv Sharma, a councillor in the Gondia Municipal Council, and his aide, Rahul Shrivas, guilty of charges under section 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The court sentenced the duo to five years’ imprisonment and slapped a fine of `50,000 each.The court also acquitted four others in the case for want of sufficient evidence against them.
As per the details, on April 9, 2016, the then Congress MLA Gopaldas Agrawal was briefing reporters at a local hotel when Sharma, who was the former vice-president of the Gondia Municipal Council at the time, and Shrivas entered the venue and slapped him. Shrivas also manhandled Agrawal and his son, who tried to shield his father during the altercation.

Based on a complaint, a case was registered against Sharma, Shrivas and four others, who allegedly helped the duo flee.