KANPUR/JHANSI, Sept. 12 -- The Jalaun district court at Orai on Thursday sentenced former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Chhote Singh Chauhan to life imprisonment in a 31-year-old double murder case of two brothers in a Jalaun village over local gram pradhan election rivalry. Special Judge, EC Act, at Orai, Bhartendra Singh pronounced the judgment. Earlier on Monday, the court had convicted Chauhan in the case. On May 30, 1994, two brothers, the then village pradhan Rajkumar aka Raja Bhaiya and his elder brother Jagdish Sharan, a retired revenue official, were shot dead in Binaura Vaidh village under Churkhi police station. Another man Virendra Singh had sustained gunshot injuries in the incident. Chauhan, who later became an MLA from Kalpi in 2007 on a BSP ticket and represented the seat till 2012, was among 10 accused named in the case. Following a protracted trial spanning decades, the court found him guilty earlier this week. In 2009, the then BSP government in Uttar Pradesh had withdrawn the case against Chauhan, a decision later ratified by the then governor. The victims' families challenged the move, approaching the Supreme Court (SC) after failing to have it overturned at the high court level. On June 24, 2024, the SC quashed the government's decision and ordered a retrial, noting the seriousness of the charges. By then, two of the 10 accused had died. The retrial commenced on August 27 2024. Moreover, the former legislator appeared in the court dressed as a lawyer with his counsel and surrendered on Thursday. The court had issued a non-bailable warrant against him on Monday after he failed to appear before it. Police raids over the past two days had also failed to trace him. Chauhan was immediately taken into custody and later sent to jail. Meanwhile, defence lawyer Rajesh Chaturvedi said he would challenge the decision in the high court....