Sidhu surrenders before court in Patiala

PATIALA: Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu surrendered before a court here on Friday, a day after being sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court in a 1988 road-rage death case.

“He has surrendered before the court,” Sidhu’s media advisor Surinder Dalla told reporters outside the court.

Officials said Sidhu was taken for a medical examination and he will be lodged in a jail here.

Accompanied by some party leaders, including Navtej Singh Cheema, the 58-yearold Sidhu reached the district court, which is close to his house, in the afternoon.

Cheema drove Sidhu, who was in a dark-coloured ‘pathani suit’, to the court in an SUV.

This comes just hours after the former Punjab Congress president approached the Supreme Court seeking a few weeks to surrender to serve the imprisonment.

The top court bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and J B Pardiwala told senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for Sidhu, that the judgment was passed by a special bench, and that he can file the application and mention it before the Chief Justice.

Singhvi said he will try and mention the matter before the Chief Justice.

Back in Patiala, some supporters of Sidhu had turned up at his residence Friday morning.

Patiala District Congress Committee president Narinder Pal Lali, in a message to party supporters on Thursday night, had said Sidhu would reach the court at 10 am. He had urged them to arrive at the court complex around 9.30 am.

The cricketer-turned politician’s wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu had reached their Patiala residence on Thursday night. The SC had on Thursday sentenced Sidhu to one-year rigorous imprisonment, saying any undue sympathy in imposing an inadequate sentence would do more harm to the justice system and undermine the public confidence in the efficacy of law. The 65-year-old Gurnam Singh had died in the road rage incident.