Honolulu: A lovesick Indian man enraged by evidence his girlfriend was being procured by the top aide to Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle during one of her trips to the Philippines was sentenced to one year in prison for blackmail.

Rajdatta Patkar had pleaded guilty to attempting to extort $35,000 from Lingle's former campaign manager and chief of staff, Bob Awana, in exchange for withholding information that he said could ruin Awana professionally and personally.

Awana, who cooperated with the FBI in an undercover operation to arrest Patkar, resigned his post as chief of staff without giving a reason shortly after Patkar's indictment became public in June. Lingle, a Republican, has refused to talk about Awana's abrupt departure, and attorneys were prohibited by the court from revealing details of the case.

But after sentencing yesterday, Patkar's public defender alleged for the first time that Awana arranged for the girlfriend and another woman to go on dates with Awana and a businessman from Hawaii during an official state trip by Lingle to the Philippines. "She would receive favours including money and tips if she did some things for his friends," said public defender Pamela Byrne.

"It was men behaving badly," she told reporters outside the courtroom.

Patkar, 44,who is from India, has already served 11 months in federal detention since he was taken into custody in December 2006. He will be deported to India after he completes his sentence in a month.

Source : PTI