Cash-for-votes: Amar Singh’s bail plea rejected

Amar Singh has been accused of bribing three BJP MPs to vote for the government in a trust vote in July 2008.

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh faces
arrest again in 2008 cash-for-vote scam as a Delhi court on Wednesday
dismissed his regular as well as interim bail pleas saying his
role was "major" in the entire episode aimed at "disgracing"
parliamentary democracy.

The court said the incident showed that Singh and other
political functionaries, including arrested BJP leaders, in
the case "stooped to a level beyond imagination" aimed at
"subverting" the functioning of Parliament.

"From the material on record, it appears prima facie that
there are fingers which point that the accused (Singh) played
a major role in the entire episode which came to light on July
22, 2008, during the debate on the motion of confidence in the
Lok Sabha," Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal said.

The court, which also dismissed the bail plea of Singh`s
former aide and co-accused Sanjeev Saxena, narrated the
incident when Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahabir
Singh Bhagora (then BJP MPs) displayed wads of currency notes
of Rs one crore from bags with them and placed the same on the
table of the House.

"And there is no need to discuss the evidence threadbare
and elaborate the same further touching the merits of the case
as it may prejudice the case of the accused applicant (Singh)
as well as the case of other accused," it said.

The court, in its 17-page order, said the present case
has "far-reaching consequences" as it was an attempt to
subvert the functioning of Parliament.

"The accused has been named in an incident which showed
desperate depths to which certain political functionaries and
parties stooped and the exposers represent a gross moral
degeneration which disgraced the sacrosanct parliamentary
democracy," it said.

PTI

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