The lawyer of former Union Minister Sukh Ram facing charges in 1993 telecom scam has told the court that he had slipped into coma with later deferring the matter for Saturday.

"He has gone into coma, he cannot move from hospital," his counsel told Special CBI Judge Dharmesh Sharma.

Sukh Ram who was asked by the Supreme Court to surrender had evaded arrest on Thursday saying that he is hospitalized. He had pleaded that he be taken into custody at hospital itself. The court was to give its verdict on his plea on Friday.

Special Judge Sharma deferred the matter for Saturday as concerned Special CBI Judge Sanjiv Jain was on leave on Friday.

Sukh Ram who was asked to surrender on Thursday by the Supreme Court on Thursday said he cannot do so as he is getting treatment in a city hospital. His lawyer informed the special court about his condition.

The other two accused former bureacrat Runu Ghosh and Hyderabad-based businessman P Rama Rao however surrendered before the court and were sent to jail.

Sukh Ram’s plea that he be taken into custody at jail will be heard by special court judge Sanjiv Jain on Friday.

The three had pleaded with the court for the relief but the later refused saying that their appeal against the Delhi High Court would be listed for hearing only after they surrender before the trial court.

Earlier Sukh Ram, the former telecom minister in PV Narsimha Rao government facing charges in 1993 telecom scam had been asked by the Supreme Court to surrender before the trial court on Thursday.

Along with him former bureaucrat Runu Ghosh and Hyderabad-based businessman P Rama Rao have also been asked to surrender.

The three had challenged the Delhi High Court order which had dismissed the appeal of Sukhram against his conviction in 1996 telecom scam and upheld a three-year jail sentences handed out to him by a trial court. Sukh Ram headed the telecom ministry in Narasimha Rao’s government.   

The bench had directed them to surrender forthwith before the trial court. A division bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and GP Mittal had also upheld the conviction of ex-deputy director-general of the department of telecom (DoT) Runu Ghosh and Hyderabad-based Advanced Radio Masts (ARM) managing director P Rama Rao in the scam. The trial court had awarded two years of jail sentence to Runu Ghosh and three years to Hyderabad-based Advanced Radio Masts (ARM) managing director P Rama Rao.

Sukh Ram along with Renu Ghosh and Prama Rao was convicted by a trial court in a case related to the award of a contract to a Hyderabad firm for supplying telecom equipment to government at exorbitant rates.