Mehsana: A Gujarat court on Wednesday sentenced Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel and two others to imprisonment for two years in a case of rioting and arson in Visnagar town here in July 2015.

Hardik, Lalji Patel and A.K. Patel were later granted bail by the same court.

Visnagar sessions court judge V.P. Agarwal held the three guilty under penal code sections pertaining to rioting, arson, damage to property and unlawful assembly. They were also fined Rs 50,000 each, which the trio deposited in the court.

The court let off 14 other accused for want of enough evidence.

Hardik, 25, was one of the accused in the FIR filed in Mehsana district on July 23, 2015, when a rally of the Patel community seeking reservation turned violent in Visnagar.

The rally was the first prominent event of the quota movement when Hardik came into the limelight.