Patiala: After spending about 10 months in the Patiala Central Jail in a 1988 road rage death case, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu is set to walk free Saturday with a large number of his supporters gathering outside the prison since morning.
Sidhu’s counsel HPS Varma said they are completing the required paperwork for his release.
Sidhu’s son Karan Sidhu, however, expressed unhappiness over the “delay” in his release after they waited outside the jail for more than eight hours.
“After every hour, they (jail authorities) are telling us to wait for one more hour. It is creating doubt…After seeing a huge crowd and the media, they may be delaying it. It can be called politics or anything. I asked two to three times and they said he (Sidhu) is definitely being released,” Karan Sidhu said.
Fifty-nine-year-old Sidhu’s supporters have assembled outside the prison since morning to accord him a grand welcome upon his release and they could be heard chanting ‘Navjot Sidhu zindabad’.
Sidhu is a former Punjab Congress president and a former state minister.
Several Congress leaders, including Amritsar MP Gurjit Aujla, former state party chiefs Shamsher Singh Dullo, Mohinder Singh Kaypee and Lal Singh, former MLA Navtej Singh Cheema, Ashwani Sekhri and Sukhwinder Singh Danny, were seen waiting outside the jail.
‘Dhol’ players have also been arranged by his supporters standing outside the jail to welcome the cricketer-turned-politician.
Speaking to reporters earlier at his residence, Karan Sidhu said the family has been eagerly waiting for his release from jail.
He said it had been a tough time for the family but now they were happy to see him coming out of jail.
Several posters and hoardings of Navjot Sidhu were put up at many places in Patiala city by Sidhu’s supporters to welcome him.
Party workers are quite ecstatic over the release of Sidhu, said one of the supporters outside the jail.
Congress leader and former MLA Navtej Singh Cheema said the people of Punjab are waiting for Sidhu to come out of jail.
The former state Congress chief was jailed May 20 last year after being sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court over the death of 65-year-old Gurnam Singh in a road rage case in 1988.
Sidhu’s lawyer HPS Varma on Friday had said the release was happening earlier due to Sidhu’s good conduct during imprisonment, as allowed under the rules.
Sidhu’s family had got intimation from the authorities regarding his release from the Patiala jail.
PTI