Click to play videoNew Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP and former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has been sent to 13-day judicial custody in the cash-for-votes scam. Amar Singh and two other accused - Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Singh Bhagora - have been arrested and sent to judicial custody till September 19.
The Tees Hazari court of Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal rejected Amar Singh's plea of ill-health and his interim bail application while sending him to judicial custody. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Singh Bhagora are former MPs and along with their colleague and current Lok Sabha MP Ashok Argal had during the 2008 trust vote in the Lok Sabha waved bundles of notes inside the House claiming that they had been bribed to vote in favour of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
While Kulaste and Bhagora have been arrested as they are former MPs, Argal is a sitting MP and the permission of the Lok Sabha Speaker is required before he can be chargesheeted and arrested.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has already asked for permission from Lok Sabha Speaker Meira kumar to arrest Argal. Argal claimed that he is a victim and not an accused as claimed by the prosecution.
"The matter is in the court. I will accept the court's verdict. Police has made chargesheet in such a way that even whistleblower has been portrayed as an accused. We exposed the entire thing. The police and the Government have been vindictive. The UPA government was in a minority during the trust vote and it orchestrated the entire scam," said Argal.
"What was Delhi Police doing for three years? It was after the court's pressure that Delhi Police started working. When the UPA had to save its government, it used all possible means to save it," Argal added.
Earlier, Amar Singh tried to skip the court proceedings claiming that he was not well but the court asked his lawyer to ensure that he (Singh) was brought before the court.
BJP leader LK Advani's former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni also failed to personally appear before the court in response to its summons for his alleged role in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam.
Kulkarni's counsel sought the exemption on the ground that he was currently in the US and even court summons had not been served on him.
Amar Singh's lawyer Ashgar Khan sought exemption from appearance before the court urging that his client has recently undergone a kidney transplant and was suffering from various health problems including kidney infection and high blood pressure.
As the counsel filed a formal application for exemption for Singh from appearance, the court asked him to submit to it all the medical papers related to Singh's medical condition.
"Kindly show me the paper (medical report) when kidney transplant took place and what is his condition right now," the judge said.
At this, Singh's counsel sought two days to furnish all the medical papers to the court, but the judge ordered him to submit them by 12:30 PM on Tuesday itself, following which the Rajya Sabha MP appeared before the court.
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