Rediff

Chandigarh, Jan 11: Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu has surrendered before a Chief Judicial Magistrate and has been sent to judicial custody.

Turning down their plea to surrender before it, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had, earlier on Thursday, directed Sidhu and his friend, convicted in a case of culpable homicide, to approach the local court.

A Division Bench of Justices Mehtab Singh Gill and Baldev Singh directed that both Sidhu and his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu, convicted for causing the death of a 65-year-old Patiala resident during a scuffle in 1988, should surrender before the CJM in Chandigarh.

In his application, Sidhu said he was willing to surrender before the court since his case is now before the Supreme Court since the suspension of sentence.

Sidhu, resigned from the Lok Sabha following the conviction on December 1, 2006. He and his friend were found guilty of causing the death of one Gurnam Singh after they entered into a brawl in Patiala in 1988.

Sidhu was accompanied by a large number of supporters who were not allowed to enter the Court premises. The former cricketer has appealed in the Supreme Court against the conviction and the next hearing is fixed for January 12.