New Delhi: A day after he was sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment in a three-decade-old road rage case, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking a few weeks’ time to surrender on medical grounds. Appearing for the cricketer-turned politician, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned the matter before an apex court bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar. “He will of course surrender shortly. We want a few weeks to surrender,” Singhvi told the bench, PTI reported.
“It is after 34 years. He wants to organise his medical affairs,” Singhvi added.
The apex court asked Singhvi to move a proper application and mention it before the Chief Justice of India (CJI) bench.
“You can file that application and mention it before the Chief Justice. If the Chief Justice constitutes that bench today, we will consider that,” the apex court bench also comprising Justice J.B. Pardiwala observed.
“If that bench is not available, it will have to be constituted. A special bench was constituted for that matter,” the apex court bench added.
Singhvi said he will try to mention the matter before the Chief Justice.
Sidhu, who will be taken into custody by the Punjab Police as per the order, was earlier let off with a fine of Rs 1,000.
The Congress leader has now been awarded the maximum possible punishment under Section 323 of the IPC.
Sidhu and his aide Rupinder Singh Sandhu, according to the prosecution, were in a Gypsy parked in the middle of a road near the Sheranwala Gate crossing in Patiala on December 27, 1988, when the victim and two others were on their way to a bank to withdraw money.
When they reached the crossing, it was alleged that Gurnam Singh, driving a Maruti car, found the Gypsy in the middle of the road and asked the occupants, Sidhu and Sandhu, to remove it, according to the news agency.
The prosecution added that this led to heated exchanges and Gurnam was beaten up in the scuffle and later taken to the hospital where he was declared dead.
Sidhu was acquitted of murder charges by a trial court in September 1999.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court, however, reversed the verdict in December 2006 and held Sidhu and Sandhu guilty under Section 304 (II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC.
The High Court had sentenced them to three years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs one lakh each on them.
The Supreme Court set aside the High Court order on May 15, 2018, but had held Sidhu guilty of causing hurt to a senior citizen.