Begusarai (Bihar), Aug 1 A court in Bihar's Begusarai district on Saturday sentenced former state minister Manju Verma and her husband Chandrashekhar to seven years of rigorous imprisonment in connection with an eight-year-old Arms Act case.
The couple, whose son Abhishek Anand is the sitting JD(U) MLA from Cheria Bariarpur, a seat formerly represented by his mother, were awarded the punishment by Brajesh Kumar Singh, Special Judge of the MP/MLA court.
Additional Public Prosecutor Ram Prakash Yadav said the couple, who had come under CBI scanner in the infamous Muzaffarpur shelter home scandal, were sent to jail as per the court's direction.
Notably, Verma, who was said to be a confidante of the then chief minister Nitish Kumar, had to resign as the minister for social welfare following allegations that her husband had close links with Brajesh Thakur, the prime accused in the case.
A CBI team, which raided the couple's residence in a Begusarai village, in the course of investigation, seized a huge quantity of arms and ammunition, which led to the filing of the Arms Act case against them.
According to Yadav, in the course of hearing, statements of seven witnesses, including the then deputy SP, CBI (Dhanbad), were recorded.
