Vijay Singh, an independent legislator from the Uttar Pradesh assembly, was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment by a Central Bureau of Investigation court in Lucknow in connection with the murder of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Brahma Datt Dwivedi in 1997.

Singh represents Farrukhabad. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Kalimullah also sentenced his accomplice, Sanjeev Maheswari, to life imprisonment.

Five others were acquitted for lack of evidence.

Those acquitted included the son of former BJP MLA Urmila Rajput.

Dwivedi was shot dead near his residence at Farrukhabad.

The case was handed over to the CBI on the recommendation of the state government following persistent demands by the opposition parties and the BJP.