Guwahati: Two former MLAs of Assam have been sentenced to two years in prison in a case of physical assault of a forest ranger inside Kaziranga National Park (KNP).
A local court in Golaghat district on Saturday also slapped the two ex-MLAS Jiten Gogoi and Kushal Dowari 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-independent MLA Jiten Gogoi and former BJP MLA from Thowra 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 Dharanidhar Boro had prevented them from doing so which lead to the two MLAs and their companions threatening and assaulting the forest official.
Boro had later filed a police case against them and they were sentenced by the court on Saturday under provisions of 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.