New Delhi: The Supreme Court has decided to
examine a petition by former Chief Election Commissioner JM
Lyngdoh seeking a direction to a Special Investigation Team
(SIT) to probe the "cash-for-vote" scam during the trust vote
faced by the UPA government in July 2008.
A bench of justices Aftab Alam and RM Lodha asked senior
counsel Rajeev Dhawan to place on record the FIR relating to
the case so that the matter could be considered for hearing.
The petition filed through counsel Prashant Kummar and
Anurag Sharma on behalf of Lyngdoh alleged though the entire
nation was shocked by the spectacle of three BJP MPs
displaying wads of currency notes in Parliament as bribe money
to vote in favour of the UPA during the 2008 trust vote no
action has so far been taken against the guilty persons.
According to the petition, though the incident had
occured on July 22, 2008, neither the Delhi Crime Branch which
registered an FIR nor the chairman of the Joint Parliamentary
Committee headed by Kishore Chandra Deo, which inquired into
the allegation, had so far taken any tangible step to initiate
action against those responsible for the scam.
Lyngdoh urged the apex court to direct the government to
set up an independent SIT to probe the allegations and try to
complete the investigations within six months. He pleaded the
SIT chief should be given absolute powers and independence to
choose the best officers for the probe.
PTI
