A Kanpur court on Monday sentenced Minister Rakesh Sachan to one-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹1,500 in a 1991 Arms Act case.
Mr. Sachan, who heads the MSME and Khadi departments in the State government, was subsequently granted bail as the sentence is for fewer than three years, said Richa Gupta, government counsel.
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court on August 6 found Mr. Sachan guilty in a 31-year-old Arms Acts case, after which the he allegedly “fled” from the courtroom with the copy of the order. A complaint was filed against him with the Kotwali police station by the reader of the court for allegedly taking away the copy of the order.
The minister, however, denied the charges, claiming that misleading things are going against him and asked the police to check CCTV footage. He also targeted the opposition parties that demanded his resignation from the Uttar Pradesh cabinet.
Mr. Sachan, who has been active in politics since his college days, is considered an influential Kurmi leader in central UP and started his electoral politics with the Samajwadi Party (SP). He was elected on an SP ticket in the 1993 and 2002 Assembly elections from Ghatampur. He won Parliamentary election in 2009 from the Fatehpur Lok Sabha seat under the Congress banner. He joined the BJP before the 2022 Assembly elections.
