Chandigarh, Sept 05: A local court today discharged former Punjab Public Service Commission chairman Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu in a case registered under the excise act following recovery of 14 bottles of whisky during a raid at his residence last year. Judicial magistrate first class Sanjay Sandhir discharged Sidhu after the Excise Department gave a certificate to the court that sidhu had been issued a life-long permit to keep in his possession 24 bottles of Indian made foreign liquor, including brandy and imported whisky, 24 bottles of wine and 48 bottles of beer.

Chandigarh Police had registered the case against Sidhu on the complaint of Punjab Vigilance Bureau which recovered 14 bottles of whisky during the trap laid for Sidhu which later brought into the open the cash-for-job scam. Sidhu's counsel pleaded that he had been falsely implicated in the case and various documents had been taken from his residence by the bureau officials due to which the permit could not be produced.

Sidhu is presently lodged in Patiala Jail.

Bureau Report