GOLAGHAT: A local court in Assam's Golaghat district Saturday handed down two years imprisonment to two former MLAs of the state in an over 10-year-old case of illegal angling inside Kaziranga National Park (KNP) and physical assault of a forest ranger.
The two have also been slapped with fine of Rs 5,000 each, failing to pay which would entail an additional two months of jail.
Additional district judge Kaushik Hazarika gave the verdict in the 2009 case against five persons, including ex-MLAs Jiten Gogoi and Kushal Dowari.
Gogoi and Dowari were Independent legislators from Bokakhat and Thowra constituencies respectively at that time and were accused of forcibly entering the national park with their companions and angling illegally inside it.
The then forest ranger Dambarudhar Boro had prevented them from doing so which lead to the two MLAs and their companions to threaten and assault Boro.
Boro had later filed a police case against them and they were sentenced by the court on Saturday under provisions of the the Wildlife (Protection) Act.
All the five convicted in the case are on bail and will not have to go behind bars immediately as the term awarded to them is less than three years.