Noida: An additional sessions court on Friday sentenced the brother of a former gram pradhan to five years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 8,800 for attempt to murder and trying to threaten and influence voters during a local panchayat poll in 2010.The gram pradhan of Kachhera village, Sushil Nagar, and five of his aides were also convicted for rioting and exerting undue influence at an election but they were not awarded jail time. The court asked them to furnish personal bonds of Rs 20,000 each and one surety of the like amount alongside an undertaking not to get involved in any unlawful activity in future.Judge Sunil Kumar 1 said that the prosecution had succeeded in proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Sushil’s brother, Yashpal, “intimidated and influenced voters near the polling station, caused public disorder, participated in an unlawful assembly, was armed with a deadly firearm, fired with intent to kill in the direction of police personnel and persons present”. He was also found in possession of an unlicensed pistol, live cartridges, and spent cartridges when he was apprehended.For Sushil and the five others, the judge held that their role in actively attending the polling station, intimidating voters, and remaining in the unlawful assembly despite police warnings, was also clearly established by the evidence of prosecution witnesses. However, noting that they were first-time offenders and considering the nature of the crime, circumstances, age of the accused, their social background, and the possibility of their reformation, the court said it would be justified to grant them the benefit of Section 4 of the Probation Act, 1958 and not sentence them to jail.“Given the gravity of the crime committed by Yashpal, it would not be justified to grant him a similar benefit and he is accordingly sentenced,” the judge ruled.The matter is linked to an FIR lodged at Badalpur police station on Oct 25, 2010, by circle officer Amit Kumar. He said that when he reached the polling booth in Kachhera, he saw Sushil, Yashpal and five others pressuring voters to cast their ballots and threatening them. Yashpal allegedly said police had no right to intervene in “a village matter” and fired at police and bystanders, threatening to kill them. However, no one was killed.
