1993 telecom scam: Sukhram moves SC

A day before he is to surrender to undergo a three-year jail term in a 1993 telecom scam, former Union minister Sukhram on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking stay on the Delhi high court order which had upheld his conviction in the case.

The other two accused -- former bureaucrat Runu Ghosh and P Rama Rao, the managing director of Hyderabad-based Advanced Radio Masts Pvt Ltd ---- have already moved the apex court for an immediate stay on the High Court order.

A bench of justices P Sathasivam and J Chelameswar will take up the petition of all the three persons on Thursday as one of the Supreme Court judges on Wednesday recused himself from hearing the plea of Ghosh and Rao and directed that matter be listed before another judge.

The high court had upheld the conviction and directed them to surrender before the trial court on January 5 to undergo three-year jail term for Sukhram, Rao and two-year imprisonment for Ghosh in the 1993 telecom equipment purchase deal to benefit the Hyderabad-based company.

The high court had on December 21 last upheld the conviction of all the three accused and directed them to undergo jail term.

A Delhi court had convicted Sukhram and awarded him a five-years jail term in another telecom scam in which he had to spend 10 days in Tihar jail before being granted bail by another bench of the high court.