File image of Gujarat NCP chief Jayant Patel. Twitter@JayantBoskey

Umreth: A court on Thursday sentenced Jayant Patel, chief of the Gujarat unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), to two years’ imprisonment for assaulting school teachers five years ago.

Judicial Magistrate of Umreth, LL Prajapati, also found Patel and his supporters Nimesh Goswami and Pankaj Shridhar guilty of unlawful assembly, rioting and house-trespass.

The court later granted them bail to enable them to file an appeal in a higher court. Jayant Patel, popularly known as Bosky, was NCP MLA from Umreth in Anand district between 2012 and 2017.

On 5 October, 2016, he and his supporters stormed into a school in Ratanpura village where a science fair was being held and got into an argument with Rakesh Khira, who worked at the District Education and Training Centre, for not mentioning the MLA’s name on the event’s invitation card.

“As the local MLA, his name should have been there,” the NCP leader said.

Though Khira apologised for the omission, Patel slapped him, the latter said in the complaint.

Patel and his supporters also manhandled two other teachers and damaged some property, Khira said.

The science fair had been organised by the Gujarat Education Department.

Patel was arrested the next day and subsequently granted bail by a local court.