New Delhi: A Delhi court, on Thursday, sentenced three followers of Hindu outfit Anand Marg and an advocate to life imprisonment for criminal conspiracy and murder of former railway minister L.N. Mishra in 1975.

District Judge Vinod Goel awarded life imprisonment to Gopalji, 73, Ranjan Dwivedi, 66, Santoshanand Avadhuta, 75, and Sudevananda Avadhuta, 79.

On December 8, the accused were convicted on charges of murder, criminal conspiracy and voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapon.

Read | Former railway minister gets justice 39 years after his murder

A fine of Rs 40,000 on Sudevananda Avadhuta, Rs 30,000 on Santoshanand Avadhuta and Rs 20,000 each on Dwivedi and Gopalji was also imposed by the court.

The CBI has alleged that the convicts carried out the attack on Mishra to put pressure on the Centre to release one of the group’s leaders.

The court while sentencing the convicts held that the case does not come under the “rarest of rarer” category where the death penalty can be given. The judge said, “I find this is not a cold blooded murder and the convicts do not bear trace of any personal animosity with the victim.”

“The crime was committed during the prime of their youth. Now they are old and this is a period of self-introspection. There is every possibility of their reformation.”

Therefore, capital punishment was not given.