Former cricketer and veteran Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has got a peculiar task in the prison - he is now a clerk. Though he enjoys the tag of being the popular inmate in the Patiala prison, Sidhu now goes by the title of 'assistant'.

Sidhu was awarded a one-year prison sentence in a road rage case in 1988 in which an elderly man had died and it has been alleged that the former cricketer had beaten the man in an altercation. Sidhu had surrendered at the Patiala prison last week after the prison sentence dictated by the Supreme Court. As the inmates would be assigned tasks inside the prison, Sidhu has been given the task of a clerk.

According to reports, Sidhu had started working since Tuesday. He will be carrying out his new job in two shifts - 9 am to 12 pm and 3 pm to 5 pm. Sidhu will be getting a three-hour break between the two working shifts. 

It has been reported that as per the jail rules, Sidhu will be given training in the role without remuneration and after three months, he will be classified as an unskilled, semi-skilled or skilled prisoner and will start earning between Rs 30 and Rs 90. His role will be involved in briefing lengthy court judgements and compiling jail records. He will be working from his cell due to security purposes. 

It must be noted that earlier this week, Sidhu has received permission from the court to have a special meal plan suggested by the doctors. His counsel has said that Sidhu couldn't consume wheat, sugar, maida, and some other food items. Sidhu's new task has become the talk of the town and he has been convicted of the crime that had happened three decades ago.