SME Times News Bureau | 06 Jan, 2012
Former telecom minister Sukh Ram, who was to surrender in a graft case, has slipped into coma, his counsel told a Delhi court Friday. The 84-year-old has been undergoing treatment at a hospital in the capital.

Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge Ramesh Sharma listed the matter for Saturday as the concerned judge is on leave.

On Thursday, Sukh Ram's counsel said the former minister could not surrender as he was undergoing medical treatment following angiography.

The 1993 telecom scam involved award of a contract to a Hyderabad firm for supplying telecom equipment to the government at exorbitant rates.

Sukh Ram was accused of showing undue favour to a cable supply company and accepting Rs.3 lakh bribe, along with an accomplice.

In 2002, Sukh Ram was awarded a three-year jail term under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In another case, he was held guilty of possessing disproportionate assets worth Rs.4.25 crore in 2009.

The former minister's son Anil Sharma, who is a legislator from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, told IANS that his father has been feeling drowsiness since he underwent a procedure in hospital in Delhi Thursday.

"He is not in a condition to move as he underwent angiography in Metro Hospital," Sharma said.

The doctors, he added, advised him complete bed rest for a few days. The former minister belongs to Mandi town and commands influence in the area.