Chandigarh, January 10
Former Indian cricket star-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu and his accomplice in the case of death of a 65-year-old Patiala resident, who was beaten by them in 1988, will surrender before the Punjab and Haryana High Court tomorrow morning.
An application in this regard was filed in the High Court today and the same is scheduled to come up before a Division Bench headed by Mr Justice Mehtab Singh Gill tomorrow.
On December 6 last, the Bench had sentenced Mr Sidhu, who is
a BJP leader, and his accomplice, Mr Rupinder Singh, to three years’ sentence for culpable homicide amounting to murder.
In doing so, the Division Bench headed by Mr Justice Gill had overruled the September 22, 1999, order of the Sessions Judge, Patiala, through which Mr Sidhu and Mr Rupinder Singh had been acquitted in the case. The lower court judgement had been challenged by the state of Punjab as well as the son of the deceased. Both had termed the judgement arbitrary and wrong.
However, the Bench had suspended the sentence till January 31 to enable them to appeal against the High Court order in the Supreme Court. Some days ago, Mr Sidhu and Mr Rupinder Singh moved the apex court, challenging the High Court order.
Incidentally, today Mr Sidhu was in Chandigarh in connection with the election for one constituency of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh, where polling had been countermanded following the death of a candidate. In his application, he has prayed that he is willing to surrender since his case is now before the Supreme Court.
Experts say that the latest move of Mr Sidhu and Mr Rupinder Singh stems from the fact that an appeal for suspension of sentence in such a criminal case can't be heard if the accused has not surrendered.
The Supreme Court rule dealing with such cases also says that hearing can't take place unless the accused is in custody.
Simply put, the clause means that unless the High Court Bench decides otherwise, Mr Sidhu and his accomplice may have to spend time in jail till the apex court passes an order suspending the sentence.
Hearing of the appeals filed by Mr Sidhu and his accomplice is fixed in the Supreme Court for January 12.
