Former BJP leader gets life term in rape case

Dehradun: Former Cooperative Bank Chairman and former BJP leader Pramod Gupta was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court in a five-year-old rape case.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Amit Kumar Sirohi also sentenced Gupta`s accomplice Ashok Kumar to 10 years` rigorous imprisonment in the case. However, Pravin Kumar, the owner of the resort where the crime took place on April 19, 2008 was acquitted by the court. The duo were convicted yesterday by the court after being found guilty of taking a girl in a car to Rajpur Resort on the pretext of getting her a job in the secretariat and raping her after offering her a drink laced with sedatives, Public Prosecutor G C Sharma said. Gupta, a former chairman of the Cooperative Bank and his accomplice Kumar were both associated with the Pradesh BJP at the time of the incident. PTI