DHAKA: An Indian court sentenced a powerful ally of the ruling Congress party to five years in jail on Thursday for siphoning off state funds, underlining that public disgust with corruption is finally catching up with the nation’s politicians.

Arvind Singh, joint secretary of the bar association in the eastern city of Ranchi who was in the court, said Lalu Prasad Yadav would serve five years of ‘rigorous’ imprisonment and was fined 2.5 million rupees.

The sentence means that Yadav will lose his seat in the lower house of Parliament, making him the first lawmaker to be hit by a Supreme Court ruling that convicts may not sit in legislatures even during an appeal.

‘Five years is a big one, the message of this will ring across the nation, especially in political circles,’ said Sankarshan Thakur, the author of a book on the convicted politician, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1756 HRS, OCT 03, 2013
RoR/RIS