Former India batter Navjot Singh jailed

The Supreme Court has ruled that Sidhu "intentionally caused hurt" to Gurnam Singh, who was 65 at the time of his passing in December 1988.

Navjot Singh, the ex-India opening batter, has been sentenced to one year in prison for a road rage incident that resulted in another man’s death nearly 34 years ago.

The Supreme Court, India’s highest, ruled that Sidhu "intentionally caused hurt" to Gurnam Singh, who was 65 at the time of his passing in December 1988.

Sidhu, who since retirement turned to politics and served as an MP, was acquitted of the more severe charge of manslaughter in 2018 and still stands following the new sentence.

In April 2022, Sidhu resigned as the Congress party’s chief in Punjab following defeat in state assembly elections.

Sidhu played 51 Test matches and 136 one-day Internationals in a 16-year playing career. He averaged 42.13 in Test cricket, scoring nine hundreds.

^{Singh hit nine Test centuries in 51 Tests for India (Raveendran/AFP/Getty Images)}

He called time on all forms of cricket in 1999 and after four years, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and became an MP.

Sidhu was first accused of manslaughter in 1988 during a time when he was a rising star in a fledgling international cricket career.

The case was heard in a trial court. In 1999, the court acquitted Sidhu but after the state appealed against the acquittal in the high court he was convicted for manslaughter in 2006.

He successfully appealed against the verdict in the Supreme Court, permitting him to retake his seat in a by-election. In 2018, he was acquitted but found guilty of "hurting the victim" and asked him to pay a fine of 1,000 rupees.

The victim's family appealed against the ruling and on Thursday (May 19), the Supreme Court added a one-year sentence to the fine.

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