A local court has sentenced former Kerala Minister M P Gangadharan and two others to six months simple imprisonment in a case involving a Pharmaceutical firm owned by him.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Amit Ali also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on them.
A case was filed against Ganson India Pharmaceuticals of Malappuram, owned by Gangadharan, a Nationalist Congress Party leader, following seizure of sub-standard drugs from its District Medical store in Kottayam in 1997. The firm had distributed sub-standard salbutamol tablets to hospitals.
The court also ordered the three to undergo an additional three months simple imprisonment if they failed to pay the fine.
A former Congress leader, Gangadharan was an Irrigation Minister during K Karunakaran's government.