Bhavnagar, Feb 11 (PTI) Former MLA Kanu Kalsariya and six others were sentenced to six months in jail by a court in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district on Thursday for damaging property during a protest against a cement company.

Kalsariya, who is now with the Congress, and the other six were found guilty under IPC sections 427 (damage to property) and 447 (trespassing).

Judicial Magistrate A G Dodiya sentenced them to six months of simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 500 on each of them.

However, all the accused got bail immediately, to enable them file appeals.

In November 2018, Kalsariya had led a protest against land acquisition for cement plant in Talaja area of district.

An employee of UltraTech Cement lodged a complaint at Datha police station against Kalsariya and others for illegally entering in the company's mining site in Talaja tehsil with JCB machines and damaging property worth Rs 5 lakh.

Kalsariya, a three-time BJP MLA, left that party in 2012 and joined the Congress in 2018 after a brief stint with the AAP in between.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)