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Former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu has been handed over as long as one-year jail sentence in connection with the alleged road rage case filed against him in 1988. The Supreme Court has imposed one-year sentence on the cricketer-turned-politician in connection with the case where one person had died. The case relates to the death of an elderly man in December 1988 after a Congress leader and his friend allegedly assaulted a man in a road rage incident.
Former Indian cricketer has been awarded the maximum possible punishment under section 323 of the Indian Penal Code, and Punjab police are expected to take him into custody. Sidhu was earlier let go with a fine of INR 1,000. On May 15, 2018, the apex court set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court order convicting Sidhu of culpable homicide, awarding him a three-year jail term in the case but instead had held him guilty of causing hurt to a senior citizen.
Despite finding Navjot Sidhu guilty of "voluntarily causing harm" to a 65-year-old man, the Supreme Court spared him jail time and imposed a fine of just INR 1,000. According to the prosecution, Sidhu and his friend got indulged in a heated exchange of words with the victim after the latter requested them to move their parked vehicle from the middle of Sheranwala Gate crossing in Patiala on December 27, 1988. However, Sidhu was acquitted of the murder charges by the trial court in September 1999.
The former cricketer turned politician amassed 3,202 runs across 51 Test matches (78 innings), at an average of 42.13, with the help of 15 half-centuries and nine centuries.
Sidhu went on to play a total of 136 ODIs for India from 1987-to 98 while going on to score 4,413 runs at an average of 37.08, with the assistance of 33 fifties and six centuries. Speaking of his List A career, Navjot Sidhu played 205 matches to score 7,186 runs at an average of 41.77, with the help of 55 fifties and 10 tons.