Imprisonment for former Kerala minister MP Gangadharan

A local court has sentenced former Kerala minister MP 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 Rs5,000 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.