Ex-Congress MLA, two others given four-year sentence in journalist suicide case

Ambala (Haryana), Mar.2 (ANI): Former Congress MLA Ram Kishen Gujjar and two others, convicted by an Ambala court on Tuesday in connection with the suicide of a journalist Pankaj Khanna in 2009, have been sentenced to four-year jail-term. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Arya announced the sentence and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on Gujjar, Vijay and Ajit. They were also asked to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased journalist. On the complaint of Yashpal Khanna, the journalist's father, the accused have been booked under Sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC. Pankaj Khanna, a journalist of Naraingarh, had committed suicide by consuming poisonous substance on June 10, 2009. In his suicide note, the journalist had alleged that Gujjar and two of his associates had harassed and humiliated him. Soon after the incident, Pankaj's relatives demanded the registration of a case against the MLA and others. The police registered a case against the three on June 11, 2009. (ANI)