Strong proof against Amar Singh: Police

In a setback to Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh accused in the cash-for-vote scam, the Delhi police have told the Delhi high court that there was “strong circumstantial evidence” that it was Amar, who had sent the money to three BJP MPs, to influence the 2008 trust vote.

In a setback to Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh accused in the cash-for-vote scam, the Delhi police have told the Delhi high court that there was “strong circumstantial evidence” that it was Amar, who had sent the money to three BJP MPs, to influence the 2008 trust vote.

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“Although there is no evidence to link the money shown by BJP MPs in the well of Lok Sabha on July 22, 2008 with MP Amar Singh, strong circumstantial evidence leads to the conclusion that the money was sent by Singh,” stated a report filed by the police in the court, which is set to hear Singh’s bail plea on Wednesday.

Apart from regular bail, Singh is also seeking interim bail on grounds of illness. Singh had sought bail on the ground that Delhi police’s supplementary chargesheet in the case, which said there is no link of money in question with any of his bank accounts, “clearly absolved him”.

The police's status report also stated: "Sufficient evidence has come on record that on July 22, 2008, Amar Singh hatched a conspiracy to deliver R1 crore as illegal gratification and in furtherance of this criminal conspiracy, Sanjeev Saxena along with another person delivered Rs1 crore to three BJP MPs as advance, out of a total deal of R9 crore — R3 crore to each MP to abstain from voting on the motion of confidence."

Saxena, a former private secretary to Singh, is also in jail in connection with the scam.

The police affidavit makes it clear that Singh shall not draw any relief just because of the fact that there is no system in banks to note the serial numbers of currency notes at the time of making payments to customers. The three BJP MPs are Ashok Argal, Faggan Kulashte and Mahabir Bhagora.

The trial court had rejected Amar Singh’s bail plea on September 28.

Court makes Rewati accused

Brushing aside the Delhi police's clean chit, a Delhi court on Tuesday made Samajwadi Party MP Rewati Raman Singh an accused in the cash-for-vote scam.

“It prima facie appears that the accused was an important link in the chain of events in the alleged criminal conspiracy, and it is a settled law that as far as offence under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC, it is not necessary to be proved that perpetrators expressly agree to do or cause to be done the illegal act,” the court observed.

The court said records suggest that Raman Singh “insisted on a face-to-face meeting” between the three accused BJP leaders and Amar Singh to settle the deal.

“It is on record that the meeting among Raman Singh and the three BJP MPs was at his behest... He insisted on their having a face-to-face meeting with Amar Singh,” the court said. HTC