Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu gets one-year jail term

Congress leader and former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu was sentenced to one-year in prison by the Supreme Court on Thursday in a road rage case from 1988 in which one person was killed.

The former Punjab Congress president was earlier let off with a fine of ₹1,000 by the top court. The scope of punishment was enhanced by a Supreme Court bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and SK Kaul while hearing a review plea filed by the victim's family on the issue of the sentence awarded to Sidhu.

Last month, the top court had reserved its order in the plea that had sought stricter punishment for the former minister such as culpable homicide, or even murder, than just causing hurt.

The cricketer-turned-politician had told the top court that there was "no conclusive evidence to show that the single fist blow led to the death of a 65-year-old man". He had also accused the victim's family of making a "malicious attempt" to get the case reopened.

"There is no conclusive evidence that the injury caused by the accused resulted in the death of the person, as there was no evidence whatsoever that the death was caused by the single blow by the answering respondent (even assuming the incident did take place), this honourable court rightly concluded that the same would fall under Section 323 IPC," read the affidavit filed by Sidhu before the court.