Former Haryana CM Chautala gets 10 years in prison for corruption

Omprakash Chautala attends a news conference in New Delhi July 3, 2008.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay were sentenced on Tuesday to 10 years in prison by a special CBI court for illegally appointing over 3,000 primary school teachers.

The 78-year-old Chautala and his son were convicted by the court on January 16 of forging documents to recruit teachers in 1999 and 2000. Fifty-three others were also found guilty in the case.

"The case the CBI has projected has been done in a way to implicate them but nowhere has bribery been proved," Bir Singh, an MLA from Chautala's Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) party, was quoted as saying by Times Now.

INLD president Chautala and his son, also a party lawmaker, cannot contest elections unless the verdict is stayed or overturned by a higher court.

"If a person is so convicted, he cannot be a candidate. He's disqualified from being a candidate for assembly or parliament," constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap told CNN-IBN.

Chautala's supporters clashed with police after the sentencing on Tuesday.

Bir Singh said the party would appeal the verdict in higher courts.

(Reporting by David Lalmalsawma and Vipin Das; Editing by Tony Tharakan)