Bhubaneswar, Sep 7 - A court in Orissa Monday sentenced six people to four-year jail terms each for their involvement in communal violence in Kandhamal district last year.

Additional Sessions Judge Sobhan Kumar Das of a fast-track court at Phulbani in kandhamal district sentenced Kiringa Kanhar, Lasia Kanhar, Gananath Kanhar, Lankeswar Kanhar, Naresh Kanhar and Gorekh Pradhan to four years of rigorous imprisonment each.

'The court has also fined them Rs.2,000 each. If they fail to pay the fine, they will have to undergo another three months of rigorous imprisonment,' special public prosecutor Bijoy Krishna Pattnaik told IANS.

Police had charged 11 people, all residents of Tambasuga village, for burning the houses of Ladada Kanhar and his two sons in the same village Aug 23 last year.