PPSC ex-chief Ravi Sidhu gets bail in graft case

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 27

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today granted bail to Punjab Public Service Commission’s former chairman Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu in a corruption case.

The order by Justice Fateh Deep Singh came after Sidhu’s lawyer Vikram Chaudhary moved an application for the suspension of sentence awarded during the pendency of an appeal filed by him against his conviction.

The court was told that the plea of similarly placed co-accused for the suspension of sentence had been allowed; and the appellant had already undergone incarceration for about two years and five months out of the total awarded sentence of seven years. Responding to the assertions, the counsel appearing on behalf the state conceded and even filed custody certificate of the applicant-appellant.

“In view of the principle of parity and keeping in view that the appeal is not likely to be heard in near future, the application seeking suspension of sentence of applicant-appellant Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu is allowed.

“Applicant-appellant Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu during the pendency of the present appeal be admitted to bail to the satisfaction of Chief Judicial Magistrate/Duty Magistrate, Patiala,” Justice Fateh Deep Singh asserted.

Patiala court had earlier sentenced Sidhu to seven-year rigorous imprisonment. The court of Additional Sessions Judge had also imposed Rs 1-crore fine on Sidhu. He was proceeded against in the cash-for-job scam after it was busted by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau in 2002.

Sidhu was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau in March 2002 for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh at his Sector 39 flat in Chandigarh.