New Delhi: A Delhi court today ordered
sitting BJP MP Ashok Argal to appear before it on November 3
to face charges levelled by the city police against him in the
2008 cash-for-vote scam.
Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued summons to
Argal, while taking cognisance of the second supplementary
charge sheet by the police in the case, also involving Rajya
Sabha MP Amar Singh and senior BJP leader L K Advani`s former
aide Sudheendra Kulkarni, besides two former BJP MPs.
"Summons is issued against Ashok Argal for November 3,"
the judge said.
The court took cognisance of the charge sheet after
public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan submitted that the sanction
letter issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat to prosecute Argal
was proper, a contention accepted by the judge.
Referring to earlier sanction orders to prosecute MPs in
the cash-for-query scam, involving receipt of cash by members
to pose queries in Parliament, Mohan said similar sanction
order was given in that case also.Earlier on October 7, the court had expressed reservation
over the Lok Sabha secretariat`s sanction order to try Argal,
saying that the prosecution lacks a "proper" sanction order.
"This is just a letter (from the Secretary General Lok
Sabha). You (prosecutor) may call it a communication or
something else. What has to be before me should be a proper
sanction order like in other cases. I am not satisfied with
this kind of sanction letter," the court had said.
Argal was one of the three BJP MPs in the previous Lok
Sabha who had waved wads of currency notes on the floor
of the House ahead of the voting on confidence motion by UPA-1
in July 2008 alleging that the money had been paid to him to
buy votes.
He was named as an accused in the second supplementary
charge sheet filed by police on October 3, after the Lok Sabha
Speaker Meira Kumar granted sanction to the Delhi Police to
prosecute him in the case.
Two others chargesheeted in the case were Amar Singh`s
former aide Sanjeev Saxena and a political activist Suhail
Hindustani. All six, barring Argal are presently in judicial
custody. Amar Singh undergoing treatment at AIIMS under
custody.
PTI
