Kottayam, Tuesday, 15 June 2010: A local court has sentenced former Minister M P 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 Rs 5,000 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 here 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.

(PTI)