Former Telugu Desam Party legislator Kotagiri Hanumantha Rao has been sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 2,500 for abusing a dalit. Rao (66) is a four-term legislator from Nuzvid.

Machilipatnam First Additional District Sessions Judge T Doraswami handed down the sentence on Wednesday in connection with a private complaint under the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Nuzvid resident V Balakrishna had filed the case in 1998 alleging that Hanumantha Rao, along with Koneru Subbaraya Prasad, cast a casteist slur and hit him with a slipper.