Click to play videoNew Delhi: BJP MP and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu was on Friday found guilty of causing a man’s death in 1988 during a fight with him over parking in Patiala.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court overturned a lower court’s 1999 order acquitting Sidhu in the death of Patiala resident Gurman Singh and found him guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Sidhu, MP from Amritsar, and his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu on December 27, 1988 allegedly beat up Gurman who later died of a heart attack. The court will announce Sidhu’s punishment on Wednesday, December 6.
Faces 10 years in prison
Sidhu has been convicted under Section 304 of IPC, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. Public prosecutor Vinod Ghai said he would ask for the maximum punishment.
Sidhu said he was "not bothered about the quantum of punishment and other technicalities" since he would be moving the Supreme Court. "I am more concerned about morality and ethics," said Sidhu, who was in Parliament when the High Court order came.
“I won’t comment on what the Honourable Court feels about me. The matter is sub-judice and I won’t go into the technicalities and the details of the case. On those moral grounds, I resigned.” |
The Punjab government’s complaint of December 27, 1988 alleged that Sidhu and Sandhu beat up Gurnam in Sheranwala Gate Bazaar after dragging him out of his car.
The fight began over a parking spot outside the State Bank of Patiala branch, where Sidhu was employed. Sidhu has always claimed that the incident was an accident and he had no intention of harming Gurnam.
Sidhu and Sandhu were alleged to have fled from the spot with the keys to Singh's car. The Patiala sessions court dismissed the case on September 22, 1999 on the ground that the “case against the accused has not been established beyond doubt” and there was a delay in lodging the case.
The High Court gave the verdict while hearing the Punjab government’s appeal against the acquittal. Gurnam’s son had filed a separate appeal.
Asked if he would campaign in the Punjab polls in February and whether he saw a political conspiracy, he said: “To know what’s right and not do it is the worst form of cowardice and I am not a coward. I shall stand by the truth, the principle and campaign against the Raja (Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh). In a loktantra, logon ka raj hai kisi raja ka nahin." (I will campaign against the Raja. In a democracy people rule, not kings)
“To know what’s right and not do it is the worst form of cowardice and I am not a coward. I shall stand by the truth, the principle and campaign against the Raja (Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. In a loktantra, logon ka raj hai kisi raja ka nahin” |
Sidhu played for India in 51 Tests and 136 ODIs in a 16-year career. The conviction may affect his highly successful post-cricket career as a commentator and entertainer. His brash style of commentary have famously become 'Sidhuisms' and made him a household name.
The verdict also jolts the BJP which has just launched a high-pitched campaign against the UPA government following the conviction of JMM chief and former Union Coal Minister Shibu Soren in a murder case on Tuesday.
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