Guj: former MLA Kalsariya sentenced to six months in jail

Former MLA Kanu Kalsariya andsix others were sentenced to six months in jail by a courtin Gujarat's Bhavnagar district on Thursday for damagingproperty during a protest against a cement company.

Kalsariya, who is now with the Congress, and theother six were found guilty under IPC sections 427 (damage toproperty) and 447 (trespassing).

Judicial Magistrate A G Dodiya sentenced them to sixmonths of simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 500 oneach of them.

However, all the accused got bail immediately, toenable them file appeals.

In November 2018, Kalsariya had led a protest againstland acquisition for cement plant in Talaja area of district.

An employee of UltraTech Cement lodged a complaint atDatha police station against Kalsariya and others forillegally entering in the company's mining site in Talajatehsil with JCB machines and damaging property worth Rs 5lakh.

Kalsariya, a three-time BJP MLA, left that party in2012 and joined the Congress in 2018 after a brief stint withthe AAP in between.