Don’t want to die a convict: Sukh Ram to SC
NEW DELHI: Former Union telecom minister Sukhram on Wednesday beseeched the Supreme Court to hear his appeal against his conviction in the 1993 telecom scam, saying he was 92 and did not want to die a convicted man.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar appeared for the former Himachal Pradesh chief minister and said that his client did not want to die with the blot of conviction. The Congress leader had moved the top court in 2012 against the Delhi high court verdict and has been awaiting a final hearing since then.
At this, the bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra agreed and ordered that Sukhram’s appeal be taken during the third week of May, when the court is shut for a summer break.
“Be it noted that the appellant is on bail. However, the submission is that he does not intend to leave the world with a stamp of criminality,” the court said in its order.
“Be that as it may, there are three connected appeals which relate to the year 2012. The counsel for the appellants and PK Dey, counsel appearing for CBI, have no objection if the appeals are listed for final hearing in the first week before the vacation bench in the month of May, 2018. Ordered accordingly,” the court ordered.
The Delhi high court had dismissed Sukh Ram’s appeal against the trial court verdict of 2002 that sentenced him and managing director of Advanced Radio Masts (ARM) private limited to three years of imprisonment. The conviction was under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The then director in department of telecommunications (DoT) Runu Ghosh was, however, given two years jail term.