India’s former BJP chief Laxman sentenced to four years for bribery

A former head of India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been sentenced to four years in jail for taking bribes.

Bangaru Laxman was secretly videotaped accepting money from reporters posing as arms dealers 11 years ago.

A news website, Tehelka, taped secret video footage of politicians, army officers and bureaucrats taking money in connection with a fake arms deal.

Laxman, 73, and the others said they had been framed.

Passing sentence, the trial judge said it was necessary to give a signal that “rampant corruption” would not be tolerated, AFP news agency reported.

In the 2001 video, reporters posing as arms dealers offered Laxman 100,000 rupees ($1,900;