1-year RI for Raja in Leslie case

BHUBANESWAR: A local court on Tuesday convicted gangster Sandip Acharya alias Raja for making threatening calls and sending vulgar SMSes to model-cum-actor Leslie Tripathy four years back. Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) PK Pradhan has convicted Acharya to one year rigorous imprisonment after holding him guilty under Section 506 of IPC. The gangster had allegedly got besotted with Tripathy during an orchestra performance in Baripada jail where he was lodged then and had started making advances over phone and through SMSes. After failing in his attempts, he began threatening her. Leslie had lodged a complaint with police in this connection on March 6, 2008. A case was registered in the Airfield police station. The prosecution presented seven witnesses in the case, her advocate Sidhartha Das said. Acharya is currently in jail serving life imprisonment for murdering judo coach Biranchi Das in April 2008. He was convicted in the case by the Fast Track Court in 2010. He has also been convicted for kidnapping Arun Mantri, a city-based music studio employee, in 2008 and sentenced to four years imprisonment by the assistant sessions judge-cum-chief judicial magistrate in October last year.