Patiala, Oct. 20 -- A Patiala court on Monday sentenced former MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains to one year of rigorous imprisonment in a criminal defamation case filed by senior Congress leader and former Punjab health minister Brahm Mohindra over allegations of irregularities in medicine procurement in 2018.

Chief judicial magistrate Ekta Sahota convicted Bains under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with criminal defamation.

During a press conference in 2018, Bains accused Mohindra, the then Punjab health minister, of a scam in the purchase of medicines. Bains also claimed that Mohindra owned a pharmaceutical company.

Thereafter, Bains wrote to then Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and then Congress presi...