Maninder Gill has been sentenced to four years in prison in connection with a shooting which targeted Surrey businessman Harjit Atwal outside a Surrey Sikh temple. Gill shot and injured Atwal outside Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple on Aug. 28, 2010 when an on-going feud culminated in violence.

SURREY – Controversial Punjabi media man Maninder Gill was sentenced to four years in jail in connection with a shooting which targeted Surrey businessman Harjit Atwal outside a Surrey Sikh temple.

Gill shot and injured Atwal outside Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple on Aug. 28, 2010 when an on-going feud culminated in violence.

In March of 2016, Gill, the former managing director of Radio India, was convicted of five charges, including aggravated assault and discharging a firearm with intent to wound or disfigure.

Atwal attended the sentencing and outside court, Atwal told CBC News he respects the court decision.

"It [took] a long time but finally we have justice," Atwal said.

Gill's lawyer was pleading sympathy for his client.

"It's a very trying time for him … a man who has spent and dedicated his entire life to giving back to the community to be ordered to go to jail. It's something that he and his family will have to endure," said Gill's lawyer Tony Paisana as he left court today.

Fifty-three-year-old Gill, who shot community rival Atwal in the leg at a wedding at a Surrey Gurdwara after an on-going feud stemming from Gill's Radio India hosts making inflammatory comments about Atwal and his family, will be heading to jail.

"I recovered from my injury so I'm feeling good now. We wait and see what [the] court decides," Atwal said at the time when the guilty verdict was announced against Gill.

Before the shooting Atwal had filed a civil suit against Gill and Radio India alleging damages from defamatory statements broadcast about Atwal.

Gill had initially retained top criminal lawyer Richard Peck but he was unsuccessful in getting Gill off the charges. With Paisana taking over the sentencing portion of the case, it is not known whether Peck has moved on from the case.

In March, B.C. Supreme Court justice Kenneth Ball found Gill guilty on five of six charges, including aggravated assault and discharging a firearm with intent to wound or disfigure Atwal.

Gill, who was a well-known broadcaster in Surrey's Punjabi community, was acquitted of shooting at another man.

An employee with Radio India told CBC News he has no involvement with the current station of the same name, which operates online.

In 2013, former NDP MP Jinny Sims awarded Gill a Queen's Diamond Jubilee medal but the NDP was forced to withdraw the medal.