Former Cricketer, Punjab Congress chief to Patiala jail: Navjot Singh Sidhu’s twist of fate

NEW DELHI: Roughly a year ago, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu was eyeing the chief minister’s post in Punjab after successfully dislodgingu Captain Amarinder Singh. The cricketer-turned-politician had set his eyes on Chandigarh — the highest seat of power in the state. But as fate would have it, the Punjab Congress leader now finds himself just 70km away, lodged at a prison in Patiala.

The 58-year-old former Punjab Congress president on Friday surrendered before a court in Patiala, a day after the Supreme Court sentenced him to one-year rigorous imprisonment in a 1988 road rage case.

Sidhu surrendered shortly after 4pm and was taken for the mandatory medical examination, conducted at the Mata Kaushalya Hospital. After the medical check-up, he was lodged in the Patiala jail where he is likely to spend the next year.