A local court on Friday awarded one year of rigorous imprisonment to former state urban development minister Bachcha Singh and his younger brother Ramadhir in a case dating back to October 3, 2003 when Bachcha had helped Ramadhir escape from police custody.

The court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate Shikha Agarwal also slapped a penalty of Rs 3,000 on Bachcha and Rs 5,000 on his brother.

While Bachcha was awarded imprisonment under Section 506 of the IPC (criminal intimidation), Ramadhir was sentenced under Section 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension) and Section 353 deterring public servant from discharge of his duty).

Bachcha was later granted bail.

On October 3, 2003, coal trader Pramod Singh was shot dead near his house by unidentified men. Suresh Singh, a business aide of Pramod, had claimed that Ramadhir and his nephew Rajeev Ranjan Singh had killed Suresh.

When a police team arrested Ramadhir, Bachcha forcefully released his brother who fled from the spot.

Ramadhir is in Hotwar jail for two years for the murder of trade union leader Vinod Singh in 1998.