Bangaru Laxman to move HC against his conviction

Former Bharatiya Janata Party president Bangaru Laxman, who was sentenced on Saturday to four years imprisonment by a court in Delhi, said he would challenge his conviction before the Delhi high court as the case against him was framed by some media personnel.

"We will challenge the decision in the high court. We will definitely appeal in the higher court," Laxman's counsel Ajay Digpaul told reporters after pronouncement of the sentence.

He said, "This was a framed case and some media personnel are behind it."

He added that they will go through the entire 155-page verdict pronounced by the trial court and "formulate an opinion" before challenging it.

Digpaul said the observations made by the court was general in nature and has no relevance to the case which happened 11 years ago, when in a sting operation Laxman was shown taking a bribe of Rs one lakh from a fictitious arms dealer to facilitate a defence deal.

"The court gave a general observation on corruption. This case pertains to an incident of 11 years ago and is different from the situation prevailing today," he said, adding that what happened in 2001 cannot be equated with today's situation.

The court has observed that the importance of law is being damaged by large-scale and rampant corruption that has also weakened the political system.