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FOLLOW-UP
But for an uncle, all desert Ravi Sidhu
Psychiatrist to examine PPSC chief’s low morale
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 26
Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) Chairman Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu seems to be showing an interest in his principal avocation of journalism while in jail. He remains busy scanning both English and vernacular papers even as he has lost the battle to get medical treatment from either Chandigarh or Delhi. The jail authorities have, instead, requested the local Government Medical College to send specialists to look into his problems.

The specialists requisitioned are from the department of cardiology, skin and psychiatry. Sources said the psychiatrist had been requisitioned because Sidhu’s morale was very low and he was feeling shattered with his friends turning approvers.

He was given the B class facility yesterday, Sidhu is learning the hard way about life in jail. Before this, he was lodged in a high security cell in the “Jaura Chakkian” area which has a toilet and bathroom in the cell itself and a concrete bench for a bed upfront. The cell has a small open enclosure in front of it. He was allowed to walk in this enclosure during specific periods in the day.

Sidhu has got himself admitted in the jail hospital thrice and tried to convince the hospital doctors to recommend that he be sent for treatment to the PGI, Chandigarh, or AIIMS, Delhi. These requests were turned down as the diseases with which he is affected, including blood pressure, high sugar, diabetes melitis, low back pain and skin lesions, can be taken care of in the jail complex or in the local Government Hospital. Accordingly, a request has been sent to the Principal of the local Government Medical College to send cardiology, skin and psychiatry specialists to the jail to examine him. The Principal has also been asked to send technicians to take his blood samples and do other tests.

The PPSC Chairman, who was feted by the most powerful men in the state only till recently, is a lonely man today. He neither has any friends either in jail nor is anyone coming to meet him. Thus, he keeps himself busy by scanning the newspapers available in the jail in his B class facility. The facility includes a dormitory consisting of 30 single beds with two toilets on both sides of the hall. He has benefited somewhat after getting B class facility as he will no longer have to eat food from the jail “langar”. B class inmates get their food cooked separately.

Sources disclosed that except for a retired Army officer who is related to him, no other relative or friend had come to meet Sidhu till yet. He has only been visited by his lawyer at regular intervals and the uncle during this period. This, sources said, had affected Sidhu because he was expecting many people, including some from the city, to visit him and inquire about his health.

Sidhu, however, does make small talk with some staffers in the jail and a few inmates. Though disillusioned with his friends, he insists that the crores found from lockers recently did not belong to him. He tries to give the impression that he was used and that this could be proved from the fact that his signatures were not affixed to any bank deposit. He is also bitter with the jail authorities, claiming that they did not let him meet his estranged wife Lovleen who had come to meet him on Sunday last. This fact is, however, denied by the authorities who say that they do not have any record of Lovleen’s visit.

Sidhu is polite with the jail authorities and the inmates. He has also lost some weight.