CHANDIGARH, Dec 1: Former Indian cricketer and current member of parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu was on Friday convicted of homicide by a court that overturned an earlier acquittal related to a road-rage incident 17 years ago.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court said 43-year-old Sidhu, now also a popular TV commentator, was guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and added that he would be sentenced on Dec. 6.

The offence carries a maximum sentence of a life term.

Sidhu, a member of the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), resigned from the lower house of parliament within hours of the conviction.

Sidhu was involved in a car accident in his hometown of Patiala in the northern state of Punjab in 1989. The batsman was accused of getting into a fight with the occupant of the other car and beating him up, leading to his death. A lower court acquitted the cricketer in 1999.

Sidhu said his lawyers would argue over any sentence and added that he also had the right to challenge the verdict in a higher court.

“I will continue to pursue my political ideals, my public activities and continue to serve the people of Sri Amritsar Sahib and Punjab,” he said in a letter to BJP chief Rajnath Singh, referring to his constituency.

“I have always stood for truth and moral grounds and these principles are above any office or power that I hold. Sidhu played in 51 tests and 136 one-day internationals for India between 1983 and 1999.—Reuters