Sukh Ram sent to jail

The former Telecom Minister, Sukh Ram, surrendered before a court here and was sent to the Tihar Central Jail on Saturday after the judge warned that a non-bailable warrant would be issued if he failed to surrender. On Friday, his counsel claimed in the court that Mr. Ram was in a coma, but his doctors had denied this.

Following the NBW threat, the octogenarian politician arrived at the Patiala House Courts complex in an ambulance. A doctor attending on Mr. Ram told Special Judge Sanjiv Jain that his patient was “unconscious” following which the judge asked the doctor to accompany Mr. Ram in the ambulance till Tihar jail. Mr. Jain said Mr. Ram would continue to receive medical treatment in the jail as per norms.

On January 5 and 6, Mr. Ram moved applications before Special Judge Dharmesh Kumar Sharma, pleading that he be taken into judicial custody directly from the hospital. But Judge Sharma deferred hearing on the matter till the designated judge, Mr. Jain, returned from leave.

Mr. Ram's fellow convicts in the case relating to the purchase of telecom equipment in 1993-94 resulting in a loss of Rs.1.66 crore to the exchequer — the former bureaucrat, Runu Ghosh, and Hyderabad-based businessman P. Rama Rao — surrendered on January 5.

The Supreme Court earlier refused to stay the High Court order upholding the trial court judgment in the case sentencing Mr. Ram and Mr. Rao to three years and Mr. Ghosh to two years in prison. It also directed them to surrender on January 5.