Cash for votes: Cong, SP leaders cleared

The Delhi Police on Thursday virtually gave a clean chit to Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders in the cash-for-vote scam, accusing former BJP youth wing activist Sohail Hindustani of trying to entrap the SP leaders.

The Delhi Police on Thursday virtually gave a clean chit to Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders in the cash-for-vote scam, accusing former BJP youth wing activist Sohail Hindustani of trying to entrap the SP leaders.

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Public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan told a special judge that no leader of the Congress or SP made any effort to contact Hindustani to strike a deal with MPs.

"It was he (Hindustani) who attempted to contact various persons to strike a deal for monetary consideration in the name of three BJP MPs during the July 2008 confidence motion," Mohan told the judge.

Calling it a "cover-up", the BJP's Prakash Javadekar accused the police of succumbing to pressure from the Centre.

He wondered how the police cleared the Congress and SP leaders without examining the whistleblower MPs and former SP leader Amar Singh, who might be questioned by the police on Friday.

Hindustani's counsel too said, "The police are not questioning the leaders of the party that benefited (from the deal)."