- Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu was let off in 2018 in the road rage incident with a mere fine of ₹1,000. The Supreme Court enhanced Sidhu’s punishment on a plea filed by the family members of Gurnam Singh, who had died in the incident.
Moments after the Supreme Court sentenced Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu to one year in jail in a 1988 road rage case, Amarinder Singh’s party Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) put out a short tweet that aimed at taking at the cricketer-turned-politician. “Thoko Tali,” a post from the party’s official Twitter handle read.
The PLC was launched last year ahead of the Assembly election by former chief minister and Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh, months after he left the Congress following a bitter leadership tussle with Sidhu. Later, the former Punjab chief minister announced an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the polls wherein the saffron camp contested on 65 seats and the PLC on 37.
The former Army captain has on many occasions called out Sidhu’s close connections with ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan. After his resignation as the CM and departure from the Congress after decades of association, the Captain said that Sidhu is “not the right man for Punjab” and if the latter contests as the chief minister of the border state, he will “not let him win”.
Singh’s PLC took a jibe against Sidhu when the Congress chose Charanjit Singh Channi as its chief ministerial candidate over Sidhu in February. “A picture is worth a thousand words,” the party had tweeted.
Sidhu was let off in 2018 with a mere fine of ₹1,000. However, the top court enhanced the cricketer-turned-politician’s punishment on a plea filed by the family members of 65-year-old Gurnam Singh, who had died in the incident. Sidhu along with his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu were involved in the incident.
“We sentence the respondent to rigorous imprisonment of one year in jail. He be taken in custody to serve out the sentence,” read an order of an SC bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul.
The prosecution said that Gurnam Singh was beaten up by Sidhu in the road rage incident in December 1988, and the victim was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead.
