[Chd,Pb] Capt,Batting for Sidhu,Turn Down Action In Road Rage Case
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today scotched speculation that the Congress leader would be resigning from the state cabinet.
The Chief Minister said there was no question of asking Sidhu, the Tourism, Culture and Local Government minister, to quit.
Last week, the state government in the Supreme Court had favoured the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict convicting and awarding a three-year jail term to Sidhu in the 1988 case. Gurnam Singh, a Patiala resident, had died after he was given fist blow by Sidhu.
Amarinder pointed out that the apex court had stayed Sidhu’s conviction in 2007 and was yet to pronounce its final verdict on his petition challenging the high court order.
The question of the minister resigning, merely because the state government had repeated its stand of 30-years in the case before the Supreme Court, did not arise,
The categorical clarification from the Chief Minister came amid reports suggesting that Sidhu had been asked to resign, and also in the wake of the demand from the opposition that he should step down.
In September 1999, a trial court had acquitted Sidhu of the murder charge. However, the High Court reversed the verdict and held him and co-accused Rupinder Singh Sandhu guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in December, 2006.
The high court sentenced them to three-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on the convicts.
Opposition mounting attack on Punjab Local Body Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu in this 30 years old case