The Patna Civil Court on Wednesday sentenced suspended JD(U) MLA from Piro (Bhojpur) Sunil Pandey and four others to life for kidnapping a Patna neurosurgeon, Dr Ramesh Chandra, in 2003.
Pandey is the second sitting MLA after Samajwadi Party’s Devnath Yadav to get life sentence in a criminal case. Yadav was convicted for murdering a Congress leader in August 2006. Besides, sitting Siwan MP Shahabuddin and Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav and former MP Lovely Anand too face life sentences.
The court awarded life imprisonment and Rs 50,000 fine each to Sunil Pandey and his accomplices, Lullan Sharma, Dhiraj Kumar, Anil Kumar and Munna Sharma. Pandey and the others were taken to Beur jail. Pandey, who faces charges of murder, extortion and kidnapping, had come out on bail just two months ago.