A Special Vigilance Bureau court on Monday sentenced Punjab Public Services Commission's former chairman Ravi Sidhu to seven years imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 75 lakh on Sidhu, who was held guilty and convicted last week. The court had acquitted five people in the case. Sidhu is currently lodged in Ropar jail. The vigilance bureau had registered a criminal case against Sidhu and five others (Paramjeet Singh, Gurdeep Singh Manchanda, his wife Surinder Kaur, Prem Sagar and Randhir Singh Dheera) on March 25, 2002. The accused were booked under Sections 7, 13 (1), 13 (2) of Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 467 (Forgery ), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (Using as genuine a forged document ) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). However, the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Monika Goel acquitted the five accused in the case while holding Sidhu guilty. The court pronounced the quantum of sentence on Monday. The former PPSC chief is already undergoing a seven-year rigorous imprisonment in a cash-for-job scam, which was busted in 2002 by the then Congress government led by incumbent Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. Sidhu was appointed as PPSC chairman in 1996 by then Congress Chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar.
