Former PPSC chairman Ravi Sidhu gets 7 years' jail

A court here today sentenced former chairman of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) Ravinder Paul Singh Sidhu to seven-year rigorous imprisonment in connection with the 2002 cash-for-job scam.
Additional Session Judge Pushwinder Singh also imposed a fine of Rs 1.08 crore on him.
Besides Sidhu, the court sentenced former secretary of PPSC Pritpal Singh to four years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 18,000 on him.
Middleman Paramjit Singh Pammi has been awarded 4-year rigorous imprisonment and a penalty of Rs 23,000. Former PCS officer Purshotam Singh Sodhi was given 2-year of RI and he attracted a fine of 5,000.

Sidhu, a former journalist, was caught by the state vigilance bureau while allegedly accepting a bribe for offering employment to a candidate in March 2002.
Rs 8 crore were recovered from Sidhu's bank lockers in a raid conducted by a vigilance team. He was accused of possessing assets disproportionate to his known source of income.

A case under sections 420, 467, 468, 471-A, 409 and 120-B of the IPC and sections 7, 13(1)(d) (i) of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against him, his mother Pritpal Kaur, brother Reetinder Singh, sister-in-law Ajinder Kaur, Pritpal Singh, Sodhi and Pammi.
Two accused - Jaspal Singh and Gurpal Singh - were acquitted in the case due to lack of evidence against them.

While Sidhu's mother died during the course of the trial, his brother and sister-in-law were declared proclaimed offenders.