New Delhi, Nov 19 (IANS):A Delhi court Monday sentenced former telecom minister Sukh Ram, 84, to five years rigorous imprisonment in a 1996 telecome scam case. He was convicted for taking Rs 3 lakhs as bribe to give a lucrative contract to a private firm in 1996.
He will also have to pay a fine of Rs 5 Lac. He had earliear pleaded leniency on grounds of old age in the court, where as CBI sought maximum punishment for him calling him a habitual offender.
86-year-old Sukhram has been held guilty for misusing his official position during his tenure as Telecom Minister in P V Narasimha Rao's Cabinet in giving a contract worth Rs 30 crore to private firm Haryana Telecom Limited (HTL) to supply 3.5 Lakh Conductor Kilometers (LCKM) of Polythene Insulated Jelly Filled (PIJF) cables to the telecom department.
He was held guilty on Thursday under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code.