New Delhi, Sep 30: Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has given sanction to Delhi Police to prosecute BJP MP Ashok Argal in the cash-for-vote scam in which four other partymen are already in jail facing charges of criminal conspiracy and for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Parliament sources said Kumar's nod came after Delhi Police approached her seeking sanction for prosecuting the BJP MP from Bhind in Madhya Pradesh for his alleged role in the scam during the trust vote in July 2008.
Former BJP MPs Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora, senior leader L K Advani's former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni and a BJP worker and middleman Suhail Hindustani have already been arrested in the case.
Besides the BJP functionaries, Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh and his former aide Sanjeev Saxena were also arrested in this case.
Allegations were levelled by then BJP MPs Argal, Kulaste and Bhagora that Saxena had delivered Rs one crore in cash at the behest of Amar Singh to them at the 4 Ferozshah Road residence of Argal to vote in favour of government. According to the crime branch, the three BJP MPs—
Argal, Kulaste and Bhagora—have stated that on July 22, 2008, Saxena delivered money to them at Argal's residence.
Kulaste has alleged that Saxena was introduced to him and Argal by Amar Singh as his secretary on July 22, 2008. The case was registered in 2009 on the recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee.
The sanction came on a day when BJP chief Nitin Gadkari questioned the arrest of two former BJP MPs and Kulkarni in the scam saying everyone knows who are beneficiaries of the scam.
Two days back, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi had stated that the scam was a matter between the BJP and Amar Singh. PTI
