The MP/MLA court here on Thursday awarded a two-year prison term to actor-cum-politician Raj Babbar in a 26-year-old case for assaulting polling officers during voting for the general election in Lucknow on May 2, 1996.
Raj Babbar, however, got interim bail and will challenge the MP/MLA court order in the sessions court. Babbar was present in court when the verdict was pronounced. The court also imposed a fine of ₹6,500 on him.
In the 1996 general election, Samajwadi Party candidate Raj Babbar contested the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat against the BJP’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee who went on to win by a huge margin in the 1996 Lok Sabha polls.
Additional chief judicial magistrate (MP/MLA court) Ambrish Kumar Srivastava passed the order on Thursday. The court had completed hearing in the case on June 24 and had reserved the order then.
Polling officer Srikrishna Singh Rana on May 2, 1996, had lodged an FIR against Raj Babbar, Arvind Yadav and unidentified persons for assaulting polling staff at polling booth number 192/103 under Wazirganj police station limits in Lucknow. During hearing of the case, Arvind Yadav died.
In the FIR, Babbar was accused of assaulting Srikrishna Singh and Shiv Kumar Singh when they were having food outside the polling booth after voting was over.
{{/usCountry}}In the FIR, Babbar was accused of assaulting Srikrishna Singh and Shiv Kumar Singh when they were having food outside the polling booth after voting was over.
{{/usCountry}}Babbar had assaulted the polling staff on the pretext of facilitating bogus voting.
During the hearing, Srikrishna Singh Rana, Shiv Kumar Singh, Manoj Srivastava and two others recoded their statements