The Member of Parliament and former cricketer assaulted a man in Patiala over a parking space dispute in 1988.
CHANDIGARH: Two months ahead of the Punjab assembly election, the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine suffered a setback as its star campaigner, Navjot Singh Sidhu, MP from Amritsar, was convicted of culpable homicide.
Sidhu was convicted by the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday under section 304-B of the IPC for causing the death of Gurnam Singh in 1988 in Patiala. The former cricketer was accused of beating up Singh after an argument about parking.
A division bench headed by Justice Mehtab Singh Gill overruled the September 1999 order of the Patiala sessions court, which had acquitted Sidhu and his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu, who was also an accused.
The bench refused to accept Sidhu’s contention that he had reached the spot after the incident and seen Gurnam Singh on the ground. Sidhu claimed that he was being framed. But the bench noted that according to a medical report Singh’s death was caused by haemorrhage.
The bench has set December 6 as the date for hearing arguments on the quantum of punishment for Sidhu and Sandhu. Section 304-B (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, or fine, or both.
Sidhu submitted his resignation from the Lok Sabha. Sidhu’s family in Patiala said the verdict would be challenged in the Supreme Court.
Case history
On Dec 27, 1988, Sidhu and Rupinder Singh Sandhu got into an argument with Gurnam Singh over parking space near the State Bank of Patiala office Sidhu was employed at the bank
He allegedly dragged Singh out of his car and dealt him a series of blows, causing his death
When Jaswinder Singh, who was with Gurnam Singh, tried to intervene, Sandhu assaulted him The two fled from the spot.
A sessions court acquitted Sidhu and Sandhu in 1999