cash for votes case proceeds on
The Delhi Police arrested Sohail Hindustani, a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha activist, at Chanakyapuri here on Wednesday after questioning him for more than seven hours in the cash-for-votes scam case.
He was formally arrested around 6 p.m., under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and will be produced in court on Thursday. Hindustani is the second person to be arrested in the case in less than a week.
Sanjeev Saxena, alleged to be an aide of the then Samajwadi Party general secretary, Amar Singh, was arrested on July 17, after the Supreme Court pulled up the Delhi Police for a shoddy probe.
Earlier, Hindustani told journalists outside the police complex that he would tell the police whatever he had told the Parliamentary Committee that probed the scandal, which rocked Parliament on July 22, 2008.
Hindustani alleged that he was approached by Mr. Amar Singh and several Congress leaders for “arranging” Bharatiya Janata Party MPs for the trust vote.
The Supreme Court on Friday August 05 2011 asked the police to take the probe to its logical conclusion and submit a final report in three weeks.
A bench of justices Aftab Alam and RM Lodha, while lamenting that a middleman of the "cheapest kind" was allowed to derail parliamentary proceedings, termed the probe conducted so far as "half-hearted, meaningless and hopeless". "Delhi police is capable of doing investigation as good as any other agency. But Delhi police seems to be having inhibitions. You should drop the inhibition," the bench told Additional Solicitor General Haren Rawal appearing for the police department.
Delhi Police on Wednesday chargesheeted Amar Singh, Ashok Argal, Mahaveer Bhagoda, Phagan Singh Kulaste, Sudheendra Kulkarni, Sanjeev Saxena and Sohail Hindustani in the cash-for-votes case. The police has asked for the sanction of the Lok Sabha Speaker to chargesheet Ashok Argal as he is a sitting BJP MP. Delhi Police will file the status report in the Supreme Court on September 2. The police on August 18 told a Delhi court that the probe in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam was nearing completion and it would file the chargesheet before it on August 25.
Hindustani's counsel accused the police of not providing them or even the court the complete facts of the case.
Mr Singh, a former Samajwadi Party leader, was arrested on September 6 and sent to Tihar Jail for his alleged involvement in bribing of MPs ahead of the trust vote in Parliament in July 2008.
The court had, last Wednesday, reserved its order on the bail applications till October 24. The ruling had come after the Delhi Police submitted before the court that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where Amar Singh is admitted, said in its report that the MP's condition was critical and he needed constant monitoring.
The 55-year-old leader is currently admitted at AIIMS where he was brought to on September 12 from Tihar Jail after complaining of vomiting and pain in the kidneys. He has been undergoing treatment for renal infection there ever since.
Mr Singh, who is a diabetic, underwent a renal transplant in September 2009 and intestinal surgery 10 years ago. He also suffers from hypertension, tuberculosis infection, chronic kidney disease and urinary tract infection.
Mr Singh is an accused along with the three BJP MPs who were allegedly bribed in 2008 - Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Singh Bhagora. Of the trio, only Mr Argal is a serving party MP. Senior BJP leader LK Advani's former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni and activist Suhail Hindustani and Sanjeev Saxena are also named as accused in the case. All of them have been chargesheeted by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police. It has been alleged that Mr Singh hatched a criminal conspiracy to bribe the then BJP MPs to influence their voting in the confidence motion in the Lok Sabha in 2008 against Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. At the time of the trust vote, he was a senior leader with the Samajwadi Party.
BJP Tuesday questioned the investigations into the 2008 cash-for-votes case saying while no action has been taken against those who benefited in the scam, the ones who exposed it are behind bars. He said it was unfortunate that those who "exposed" the scam are behind bars "even on Diwali".
Former BJP MPs Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora along with former aide of party leader L K Advani Sudheendra Kulkarni are in judicial custody while expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has been granted bail on health grounds.
"The entire country is agitated," Prasad said ahead of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj's meeting with the three in Tihar Jail.
The Delhi high court on Monday stayed a trial court order issuing summons to Samajwadi Party Raman Singh to appear as an accused in 2008 cash-for-vote scam case.
"The proceedings before the trial court shall be stayed till the next date of hearing that is November 15," Justice Suresh Kait said while allowing Raman's plea that he be not forced to appear as an accused before the trial court. The court, which issued a notice to Delhi Police after taking note of the petition, said the "audio-video CDs of the sting operation" be also submitted to it on the next date of hearing.
Earlier, the lower court had brushed aside the clean chit given to Singh in the scam and issued a summon as an accused to him for November 3, saying "there was sufficient material to show that he was a part of alleged criminal conspiracy."
Sosurces:
dnaindia.com
EconomicTimes
ndtv.com
ibnlive.in
zeenews
thehindu.com
en.wikipedia
