BATHINDA: A court in Moga on Wednesday sentenced six persons to life imprisonment on charges of the murder of former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA of Barnala Malkit Singh Keetu in October 2012 at his residence in Bilaspur village of Moga district.The court of Moga sessions judge S K Garg held six persons, including three nephews of Keetu, guilty of killing the former MLA. The court sentenced Harpreet Singh, Jaspreet Singh and Gurpreet Singh, all nephews of Keetu, Kulwant Singh, Iqbal Singh and Angrej Singh to life imprisonment for the murder. Harpal Singh was held guilty under the Arms Act and handed a sentence of three years. He was bailed out after the verdict was announced for having already spent more than three years behind bars.Harpreet and Jaspreet were fined Rs 15,000 each. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 13,000 each on Gurpreet, Kulwant, Iqbal and Angrej. A fine of Rs 10,000 was imposed on Harpal. All the accused were present in the court when the verdict was pronounced.Keetu (65), a two-time MLA from Barnala, was shot dead on October 29, 2012 at his home. He had got elected as an independent candidate from Barnala in the 1997 assembly elections. In 2002, he got elected to the state assembly from SAD. Keetu had lost to Kewal Singh Dhillon of Congress in the 2007 and 2012 elections from Barnala.The police had attributed the murder to family feud and a land dispute among Keetu's brothers and nephews. In its verdict, the court observed that the convicts had been sentenced keeping in mind the facts and circumstances of the case. The convicts had pleaded leniency on the ground that they were young and the only bread winners of their respective families and had small dependent children, said the prosecution.

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