Kannur (Kerala) | A court in this north Kerala district on Tuesday sentenced two men, including a CPI(M) candidate for the local body polls, to jail for attempting to kill police officers by throwing bombs during a protest more than a decade ago.

V K Nishad, 35, a DYFI leader and the LDF candidate in Payyannur Municipality, and T C V Nandakumar, 35, from Annur, were handed a combined sentence of 20 years' rigorous imprisonment under several charges.

They were also fined Rs 2.5 lakh. However, the court ruled that serving 10 years will be enough for both.

The verdict was delivered by the Taliparamba Additional Sessions Court, a day after the court found the two guilty.

Two other accused -- A Mithun, 36, and K V Kripesh, 38 -- were acquitted.

The case relates to an incident on August 1, 2012, when crude bombs were allegedly hurled at police officers during a protest against the arrest of CPI(M) leader P Jayarajan.

He had been taken into custody in connection with the murder of MSF leader Shuhaib.

Nishad, who is the Payyannur Block Secretary of the DYFI and a sitting councillor from Karamele West, is contesting this year's elections from the Mottammal ward.

As the sentence had not been delivered when he filed his nomination, he faced no legal barrier to enter the fray.

To avoid a situation where the CPI(M) would be left without a candidate if Nishad were disqualified later, party worker M Harindran filed papers as a dummy candidate and has not withdrawn his nomination.