Court issues notice to CBI on Sukhram's plea

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Delhi High Court Friday issued notice to the CBI on jailed former telecom minister Sukhram's plea against his conviction and five years' rigorous imprisonment given by a trial court on corruption charges.

The former minister approached the court for relief on the ground that the trial court had wrongly convicted him and he was suffering from health problems.

Also Read:CBI court convicts Sukhram to 5 years jail

Sukhram's counsel Arvind Nigam said: "The trial court's order should be set aside as it has wrongly convicted him. It has not even gone through some documents while awarding jail sentence."

He added that the trial court has convicted his client merely on the basis of 'speculation'.

Taking note of Sukhram's submission, Justice Suresh Kait issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for its response by Monday.

The court also sought Sukhram's medical report on his plea for suspension of sentence on health grounds and old age.

Eighty-six-year-old Sukhram, who held the telecom portfolio in the P.V. Narasimha Rao-led Congress government, was convicted November 18 for taking Rs.3 lakh as bribe to award a cable contract to a telecom firm in 1996.

He was handed out five years' jail term by Special CBI Judge R.P. Pandey Nov 19 for misusing his official position and was immediately taken into custody and sent to Tihar Jail. The court also imposed Rs.4 lakh fine on him.

This was his third conviction on graft charges.