M A I N   N E W S

Cash-for-vote Scam
Delhi Police chargesheets
Amar Singh
Sandeep Yadav/TNS

New Delhi, August 24
Former Samajwadi Party (SP) general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, two ex-MPs of the BJP - Phagan Singh Kuleste & Mahveer Singh Bhagoda - and three others have been named in the chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police before a city court in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam.

BJP leader LK Advani’s former close aide Sudheendra Kulkarni, Amar Singh’s close confidant Sanjeev Saxena and BJP activist Suhail Hindustani have also been named in the case wherein a conspiracy was hatched to bribe some BJP MP’s to abstain from voting during a no-confidence motion against the then UPA-1 government.

The case relates to July 22, 2008, when three BJP MPs waved wads of currency notes on the floor of the Lok Sabha ahead of a trust vote, alleging they were given the money to vote in favour of the Manmohan Singh government.

Slammed by the Supreme Court for a shoddy probe into the scandal, the Delhi Police had arrested Sanjeev Saxena and Suhail Hindustani last month. The duo is presently in judicial custody.

The 80-page chargesheet, filed today before Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, claimed that Kulkarni was the "mastermind" of the entire scam and remained in touch with all conspirators besides being physically present when the "illegal gratification" was paid to the three BJP MPs.

Interestingly, the name of sitting BJP MP, Ashok Argal, who was sought to be bribed to disobey the party line, is not mentioned in the chargesheet and the Delhi Police said it would file a supplementary chargesheet after taking the requisite sanction to prosecute him.

The chargesheet alleged that during investigation "sufficient evidence" has come on record that on morning of July 22, 2008, Amar Singh, "hatched a criminal conspiracy with his secretary Sanjeev Saxena to deliver cash of Rs 1 crore as illegal gratification to three BJP MPs.” As per the plan, Saxena, along with another person in a yellow shirt, delivered Rs 1 crore cash at 4, Ferozeshah Road at about 11 am to three MPs - Argal, Kuleste and Bhagoda - as an advance (the deal was struck at Rs 9 crore) to abstain from voting during the no-trust vote, said the chargesheet.

Amar Singh has been accused of committing an offence under the Section 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act read with the Section 120 B (conspiracy) of the IPC.

The chargesheet accused Kulkarni of keeping the probe agency in the dark about the whole episode of which he had "full knowledge." "Kulkarni throughout remained in contact with other conspirators and played an active role and masterminded (it) and when actually the bribe money was paid to the BJP MPs, he remained present at the spot," the chargesheet claimed.