Chandigarh: Navjot Singh Sidhu, a former cricketer-turned-politician and Congress leader, will leave Patiala Central Jail on Saturday after completing his sentence for a 1988 case of road rage.
His official Twitter account posted a message on Friday afternoon that 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 will be released on Saturday "as per policy," said cabinet minister Aman Arora during a news conference.
On May 20 of last year, Sidhu was taken to Patiala Central Jail after turning himself in to Patiala authorities. The Supreme Court sentenced him to one year of hard labour while it was deciding a review appeal in a 1988 case involving road rage. According to reports, Sidhu assaulted Gurnam Singh, 65, over a parking dispute, and he died afterwards as a result, Indian Express reported.
Sidhu was initially expected to be freed on January 26 after receiving a special remission on Republic Day. Contrary to the widespread rumour at the time, he was not released, leaving his friends who had planned a lavish welcome for him in the dark.
The Indian Express reported that the former minister would be eligible to be released from prison in the first week of April under the established rules, according to which all convicts - other than those lodged in cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act - earn four to five days of remission for every 30 days in jail (a month), depending on the nature of the work assigned and the conduct of the defendant.
Sidhu was given clerical work in prison.
Navjot Kaur Sidhu, Sidhu's wife, recently endured surgery after receiving a stage-II cancer diagnosis.
The former head of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), Sidhu, will be released from prison 40 days before the by-election in Jalandhar. Panthic politics are also being heard throughout Punjab as a result of the crackdown on Amritpal Singh, a self-described Sikh preacher who has been eluding arrest for the past 15 days.
Sidhu is a strong leader with his own group of devoted followers. Political pundits will be debating Sidhu's potential impact on Punjab Congress dynamics and the position that the party's high command will give him.
The head of the Punjab Congress is Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, and the opposition in the Vidhan Sabha is led by Partap Singh Bajwa, a Qadian MLA. Sidhu had lost the Amritsar East seat in the February 2022 elections in a three-way race in which AAP candidate Jeevan Jyot Kaur won and Sidhu's bitter rival Bikram Singh Majithia of the Akali Dal also lost.