Amarinder Singh’s ex-media adviser gets a week’s jail
By IANSWednesday, January 20, 2010
CHANDIGARH - Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, former media adviser to former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, was Wednesday sentenced to one week in prison on charges of contempt of court by the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Chahal’s sentence has been kept suspended by the court for the time being and he was allowed 90 days to appeal against the judgment.
He was also slapped with a fine of Rs.100,000 by the high court.
Chahal was held guilty of contempt of the high court in 2005 when he tried to interfere with court proceedings in a case related to controversial appointments of deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) made in Punjab police that year.
Chahal’s son, who had just played an insignificant school-level cricket tournament, was one of those selected as DSP.
When the selections came under judicial scrutiny, Chahal tried to delay the process by getting hold of the file pertaining to the selections.
The high court then came down heavily on the selections and the interference in judicial process.
