Kolkata/Bardhaman, Mar 28 (PTI) A court in Purba Bardhaman district on Friday sentenced Trinamool Congress leader Kakali Gupta, also the chairperson of Burdwan Development Authority (BDA), to three years of rigorous imprisonment in a case of attempted murder on account of a factional feud within the ruling party.

Gupta was among 13 convicts in the case and was sentenced under IPC Sections 326 (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt using dangerous weapons) and 307 (attempted murder).

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The remaining 12 offenders, all TMC leaders and functionaries of the local panchayat bodies, were, however, awarded 10 years of imprisonment under the same sections.

All 13 offenders were slapped with fines of Rs 5,000 each, with the court ordering an additional year of imprisonment in the eventuality of payment default.

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The court also sentenced all convicts to a month's imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500 under sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 34 (criminal act committed with common intention) of the IPC. Both sentences will run concurrently, the court ordered.

Judge Arvind Mishra of the Second Fast Track Court in Bardhaman had convicted the 13 accused on Monday while acquitting two others in the case.

According to court sources, the crime took place on September 5, 2017. At around 8:30 pm on that day, Debu Pal, the father of Ryan Panchayat member Jiban Pal, was attacked near his house at Daspara, Narigram by multiple miscreants wielding sharp weapons, sticks and rods.

Though Pal, grievously injured, eventually survived the attack, he lost vision in his right eye where he was stabbed. Police started an investigation based on a complaint lodged by the victim's wife, Sandhya.

Biswajit Das, lawyer of the convicted chairperson, said he would appeal against the judgment before the Calcutta High Court.

Explaining the disparity in sentences between Gupta and the other 12 convicts, the court stated that the reduced punishment for the BDA chairperson was pronounced in view of the critical diseases she was afflicted with.

Apart from the chairperson, the convicts include Burdwan-1 Panchayat Samiti's functionary Manas Bhattacharya, Rayan-1 Panchayat's Pradhan Kartik Bagh and Rayan-1 region Trinamool Congress president Sheikh Jamal.

The court, in its verdict, slammed the police for the botched-up investigation in the case. The judge expressed dismay at the disappearance of the victim's injury report from the case diary during the trial and referred to his intervention to bring it back from the hospital concerned.

Mentioning that he has suspicions on whether the injury report was at all collected before filing the charge sheet, Judge Mishra also questioned the non-presentation of clothes, blood-stained soil and weapons seized from the attack before the court during the case trial.

The court directed the Purba Bardhaman Superintendent of Police to take necessary action in this regard.

(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)