Daijiworld Media Network-Hubballi (RJP)

Hubballi, Nov 17: Former union minister Basanagouda Patil Yatnal was sentenced to six months in jail and was also imposed a fine of Rs 24,000 by second JMFC court here on Monday, November 16 in relation to a defamation case.

A bail was granted to Yatnal later and his arrest was stayed giving him opportunity to appeal to the higher court.

As per the details of the case, Kannada Nadu party founder and industrialist Vijay Sankeshwar had contested the assembly election from the Hubballi rural constituency in 2014. He had lodged a private complaint alleging that while campaigning for the BJP candidate, Yatnal had made defamatory statements against him, which were published in newspapers. Yatnal had also said that he and politician Ananth Kumar had helped Sankeshwar financially and Sankeshwar had misused his air tickets as member of parliament.

Yatnal had failed to prove his allegations in the court. Judge V Amar while pronouncing the judgement said that the jail term will be extended by a month if the accused failed to pay the fine.

Advocates M Laxmeshwar and K L Patil had argued on behalf of Sankeshwar and Yatnal respectively.

Speaking to reporters Yatnal said that he will appeal to the higher court within a week. He also said it is not a big case like rape, denotification, corruption and mining.