Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu was earlier tipped to be released on January 26 after availing special remission on Republic Day
Cricketer-turned-politician and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu will on Saturday walk out of Patiala Central Jail, where he has been serving his prison term in a 1988 road rage case.
A tweet posted from his official Twitter handle Friday afternoon read, “This is to inform everyone that Sardar Navjot Singh Sidhu will be released from Patiala Jail tomorrow. (As informed by the concerned authorities).”
Sidhu was lodged in Patiala Central Jail on May 20 last year after he surrendered before a Patiala court. He was awarded one-year rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court which was deciding a review petition in a 1988 road rage case. Gurnam Singh, 65, had died allegedly after being assaulted by Sidhu over a parking altercation.
Sidhu was earlier tipped to be released on January 26 after availing special remission on Republic Day. But, contrary to the strong buzz at that time, he was not released, leaving his supporters who had made elaborate arrangements to welcome him high and dry.
After he was not released prematurely on Republic Day, The Indian Express had reported that the former minister would be eligible to be released from jail in the first week of the April, going by the laid down rules, as per which for every 30 days in jail (a month), all convicts – other than those lodged in cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act – earn four to five days of remission, depending upon the nature of work assigned and the conduct of the prisoner in jail.
Sidhu was assigned clerical work in the jail.
Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu was diagnosed with stage-II cancer for which she recently underwent surgery.
Sidhu, the former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief, will walk out of jail 40 days ahead of the Jalandhar parliamentary bypoll and Panthic politics playing out loudly in Punjab’s landscape amid the crackdown on self-styled Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, who continues to evade arrest for 15 days now.
Sidhu is a vocal leader with his own set of staunch supporters. Political circles will be abuzz mulling the impact Sidhu would make in the dynamics of Punjab Congress and the role that will be assigned to him by the party high command.
Amrinder Singh Raja Warring is the Punjab Congress chief and Qadian MLA Partap Singh Bajwa is the leader of the Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha. Sidhu had lost from Amritsar East constituency in the February 2022 elections in a triangular contest where his arch-rival Bikram Singh Majithia of Akali Dal also lost and AAP nominee Jeevan Jyot Kaur had emerged victorious. (Courtesy: Indian Express)
