New Delhi: A Delhi court is going to hear
from April 26 arguments on charges to be framed against 10
former MPs and others for allegedly seeking money for asking
questions in Parliament in 2005.
The Special Judge fixed the date for conducting
proceedings with regard to framing of charges against the
former lawmakers as they had already been supplied with all
documents including the chargesheet against them.
All accused MPs except Narendra Kumar Kushwaha and Anna
Saheb M K Patil, who sought exemption in appearance, were
present before the court.
Meanwhile, the court issued a non-bailable warrant
against alleged middleman Vijay Kumar Phogat for failing to
appear.
The Delhi Police had registered a case against the 10
former MPs and one Raja Rampal, who has been re-elected to the
15th Lok Sabha, for allegedly misusing their office as they
were caught on camera in 2005 seeking money for asking
questions in Parliament in what came to be known as
cash-for-query scam.
Besides the ex-MPs, two journalists of web portal
cobrapost.com Aniruddha Bahal and Suhasini Raj, who were also
made accused in the chargesheet for abetting the offence
under the Prevention of Corruption Act, were granted exemption
from appearance by the court in view of an order of the Delhi
High Court.
The sting operation against the then MPs was conducted
by Bahal and Raj and telecast on 'Aaj Tak' news channel on
December 12, 2005.
-PTI
First Published: Monday, March 15, 2010, 23:02