Road rage Indian cricketer jailed

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Former Indian cricketer and member of parliament Navjot Sidhu has been jailed for manslaughter.

Sidhu was convicted last month in northern Punjab state of beating a man to death in a 1988 parking dispute.

His three-year jail term was suspended to allow time to appeal to the Supreme Court, which hears his case on Friday.

Sidhu has been sent to Punjab's Patiala jail. Under Indian law his appeal could not be heard until he surrendered to the court which had convicted him.

Following judicial magistrate YS Rathore's order to jail him, Sidhu said it was not in his nature to "shed tears".

Earlier acquittal

The high court in Punjab took up the case after appeals by the family of Sidhu's victim, Gurnam Singh, and the state government following Sidhu's acquittal by a lower court in 1999.

Sidhu, 43, was a flamboyant batsman who became an opposition Bharatiya Janata Party MP in 2004.

His job as a cricket commentator on Indian TV channels has made him famous for his wisecracks, known as Sidhuisms.

He played in 51 Test matches for India between 1983 and 1999, scoring an average 42.13.

His conviction has been seen as evidence of a new-found appetite by India's courts to take on the rich and powerful.