New Delhi, February 27
In a development which would help the Delhi police to take forward its probe into the human trafficking case, the Privileges Committee of the Lok Sabha has granted permission to forensic and handwriting experts to examine the original documents related to recent foreign trips made by five MPs who are facing charges of human trafficking.

The MPs against whom the crime branch of the Delhi police has filed a case of human trafficking are Babubhai K. Katara, Mitrasen Yadav, Mohammad Tahir Khan, Ashok Kumar Rawat and Ramswaroop Koli.

In its report, tabled in Parliament today, the committee chaired by V. Kishore Chandra S. Deo said: “Forensic and handwriting experts will photograph the original documents like letters, application forms, and permission submitted to the Lok Sabha secretariat about their foreign visits since 2000.”

The experts will photograph “documents within the precincts of the Lok Sabha secretariat in the presence of the DSP (crime and railways), Delhi, or any other designated police officer and officers concerned of the Lok Sabha secretariat,” the committee in its recommendation said.

It has been nearly a year since the Delhi police had sought permission to examine original documents. In May, 2007, J.S. Malik, ACP (anti-extortion cell), had written to Lok Sabha secretary-general P.D.T. Acharya and had sought the original documents regarding the five MPs’ foreign visits since 2000.

The matter was referred to the Privileges Committee, which held two meetings with Madhup Kumar Tiwari, DCP (crime and railways), Delhi police, before granting the permission.

The police arrested Katara, BJP MP from Dahod in Gujarat, whom the party suspended later, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on April 18, 2007, for trying to take a woman and a teenaged boy to Canada on the diplomatic passports of his family.

After further investigations and interrogation of Sunderlal Yadav, an alleged conduit, the names of other four MPs also cropped up.

Rawat, Yadav and Khan are the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MPs from Misrikh, Faizabad, and Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, respectively, while Koli is a BJP MP from Bayana, Rajasthan.

An FIR was filed against the five MPs at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) police station on May 18, 2007, under Sections of 419/420/468/471/120-B of the IPC and also under the Indian Passport Act.