New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has given permission for prosecuting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ashok Argal in the 2008 cash-for-votes scam, a police officer said Friday. The BJP termed the move politically motivated.
‘We have got permission from the concerned authority for prosecution (of Argal). Now, a chargesheet will be filed,’ Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Chand, told IANS.
Six people, including, former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and Sudheendra Kulkarni, former aide of senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, have been arrested in the case. Action against Argal was pending for lack of permission from the Speaker.
While filing supplementary chargesheet at the city court earlier in the day, police said that the probe is not yet complete as it is still waiting for permission from the speaker to prosecute Argal, a co-accused in the case.
The chargesheet was filed before special judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal.
Meanwhile, Argal, MP from Bhind in Madhya Pradesh, told reporters over phone that he has yet to receive any communication regarding the speaker’s decision.
Sharply reacting to the decision, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters here that the prosecution move was politically motivated. ‘Argal is innocent,’ he added.
The police said in the chargesheet: ‘We are still continuing to trace the money trail and the source through which it came.’
The Supreme Court had earlier this month asked the police to find the ‘source of bribe money’.
Argal was one of the three BJP MPs who had waved wads of currency notes in the Lok Sabha during a trust vote in July 22, 2008 caused by the withdrawal of Left support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government over the India-US civil nuclear deal.
The other two – Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Singh Bhagora – are no longer MPs and are in jail.
A case was registered in 2009 on the recommendation of a parliamentary panel that probed the issue.
