Fake arms deal case: Former BJP President Bangaru Laxman to walk out of jail

New Delhi: Former BJP President Bangaru Laxman will walk out of Tihar Jail on Friday evening after Delhi High Court granted him bail in the fake arms deal case on Thursday. Bangaru had been convicted and sentenced to four years in prison after he was caught on camera taking a bribe of Rs one lakh in April 2012. Bangaru was released on a Rs 50,000 bail bond.

72-year-old Bangaru was taken into custody on April 27 to serve a four year imprisonment awarded by a special CBI court for taking Rs one lakh as bribe from some undercover journalists in 2001 to fix a fictitious defence deal to supply some equipment to the Indian Army.

On September 4, Bangaru had moved the high court seeking bail in the case on the ground that he was old and suffering from various ailments. He had also cited a high court judgement on sting operations and said that inducing a person to commit a crime is "prohibited".

Bangaru had been convicted and sentenced to four years in prison after he was caught on camera taking a bribe.

Bangaru was caught on camera in the sting operation accepting money in his chamber in the party headquarters and had to quit as BJP chief shortly after the expose which had created a huge political storm. The sting was conducted by news portal tehelka.com. The video CDs were released by the portal on March 13, 2001.

The journalists had posed as representatives of a fictitious UK-based company West End International and sought Bangaru's recommendation to the ministry for supply of "hand-held thermal imagers", a fictitious device, for the Indian Army.

With Additional Inputs from PTI

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