New Delhi: Samajwadi Party MP Rewati Raman
Singh, summoned by a city court to stand trial in 2008
cash-for-vote scam, today told the Delhi High Court that he
has been made an accused in the case without any evidence and
without requisite sanction to prosecute him.
Appearing for Singh, senior counsel NK Kaul told Justice
Suresh Kait that neither any FIR was filed against his client
nor his name appeared in any of the three chargesheets in the
case.
He said even the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC),
which probed the alleged bribery scandal to win MPs` vote in
favour of Congress-led UPA-I government during the July 2008
voting on trust motion in Lok Sabha, did not name him in its
report on which the FIR of the scam was based.
"The court has summoned me without any basis, which is
not permissible in law. There was no additional evidence found
against Singh. The CD in which he was seen talking to the
accused person is the only evidence against him," argued Kaul.
Extending the stay order till tomorrow, Justice Kait, who
viewed the audio-video CD of the sting operation in the
courtroom, raised a query if the CD has been tampered with as
he found some audio disturbance in it.
"I found audio disturbance in the CD which seemed to be
tampered with. The person who had recorded the sting operation
should be prosecuted if the CD was tampered with," the court
said and asked Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran if
the CD has been scientifically examined for its authenticity.
Appearing for police, the ASG submitted a copy of the
forensic report of the CD and said the report testified that
the CD was not tampered with.
Justice Kait was able to view the CD with more clarity in
the court after the ASG directed the police officials to play
it in the laptop to establish its claim that Singh was present
with other accused persons.
Singh`s counsel pointed out to the court that police had
obtained sanction from the Lok Speaker against Ashok Argal, a
sitting MP, but without any sanction from the Speaker, his
client, also a sitting MP, has been summoned in contrary to
the law.
To this submission, Justice Kait asked Singh`s lawyer to
argue on the legality of direct summoning of an accused by the
court while police have not sent him for trial.
The court was hearing Singh`s plea challenging the trial
court`s October 14 order asking him to appear before it.
The lower court had brushed aside the clean chit given by
police to Singh in the scam and issued summons to him saying
"there was sufficient material to show that he was a part of
an alleged criminal conspiracy."
PTI
