1.68 crore to the public exchequer when the late P.V. Narasimha Rao was the prime minister.

He was convicted in July 2002 together with Runu Ghosh, former Department of Telecom (DoT) deputy director general, and P. Ramarao, managing director of the private firm Advanced Radio Ltd.

Sukhram was convicted under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act for defrauding the exchequer by awarding the contract to the Bangalore-based firm which had supplied inferior equipment at a higher rate.

The trial court, which had said that sentences would run concurrently, had granted bail to Sukhram, who had challenged the judgement in the high court.

Ghosh was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with a fine of Rs.50,000 for her role in the criminal conspiracy while Ramarao was sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.2 lakh.