Chennai, March 25 (IANS): The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday sentenced a retired police official to four-year jail in the 2007 attack on the office of Tamil news daily Dinakaran that left three people dead.

Retired Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rajaram was sentenced to imprisonment for dereliction of duties.

On March 21, the court sentenced nine to life imprisonment and seven others to five-year jail terms in the case.

The high court verdict came on an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after the lower court acquitted all the accused.

The high court also ordered the state government to pay Rs 5,00,000 compensation to the families of Gopinath, Vinod and Muthuramalingan -- the three Dinakaran staffers who were killed in the attack.

Among those sentenced to life is V.P. Pandi, also known as `Attack Pandi', a supporter of former Union Minister M.K. Alagiri, who was expelled from the DMK some years back.

In a 2007 survey published by Dinakaran on the preferred successor to late DMK President M. Karunanidhi, Alagiri was ranked below Stalin.

Angry Alagiri supporters attacked the newspaper's office in Madurai with petrol bombs.