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Navjot Sidhu, lodged in barrack No.10 of Patiala jail, is prisoner no 1,37,683
Sidhu was sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court in the road-rage case on Thursday.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, jailed in a 1988 road rage case, is lodged in barrack No.10 at the central jail in Patiala and is prisoner number 1,37,683. On his first night in jail on Friday, Sidhu reportedly skipped his dinner saying he had already taken his meal. The cricketer-turned-politician has been lodged in the barrack with four other prisoners, news agency PTI reported, citing sources.
Sidhu was sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court in the road-rage case on Thursday. The top court said 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. A 65-year-old man, Gurnam Singh, had died in the incident.
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who had contested against Sidhu from Amritsar East in Punjab in the February-March elections, is also lodged in the same in connection with a drug case. But his barrack is different. Both leaders had lost the elections to AAP's Jeevan Jyot Kaur.
When reporters sought Sidhu's reaction to the verdict on Thursday, he had declined to comment. However, he had later tweeted to say he "will submit to the majesty of the law".
Though the apex court had in May 2018 held Sidhu guilty of the offence of "voluntarily causing hurt" to the man, it had spared him a jail term and imposed a fine of ₹1,000. Gurnam Singh's family had sought a review of the judgment, which was allowed by the SC.
Sidhu, a former BJP MP, had switched over to the Congress ahead of the 2017 assembly polls.
(With agency inputs)
