Patna, February 14:

An Indian parliamentarian was sentenced to life in jail today for the murder of a political rival ten years ago, a prosecutor said.

Pappu Yadav, a member of Railways Minister Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal party, a northern regional party that is part of India’s ruling coalition, was also fined Rs 10,000.

The court in the lawless eastern state of Bihar also sentenced two others to life imprisonment in the same case.

“The court was satisfied that life imprisonment will suffice,” special public prosecutor Rakesh Sinha told reporters in local capital Patna.

The ruling is the latest in a string of cases in which Bihar politicians have been found guilty of charges ranging from murder to abduction.

In October, a former lawmaker was sentenced to death for killing a civil servant 13 years ago.