Cash-for-vote scam: Court pulls up Delhi police for delay

A local court conducting the proceedings in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam case on Monday pulled up Delhi police for the delay in supplying the transcript of the CD of the sting to the accused persons.

Special judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal questioned the police for delay in handing over the copy of the transcript to the accused and directed them to supply it by May 8. The police, however, on Monday supplied a copy of the CD to the accused present in the court.

Meanwhile, former Bharatiya Janata Party MP and co-accused Faggan Singh Kulaste accused police of flouting the directions of the Supreme Court to trace the source of money used to allegedly bribe some parliamentarians ahead of the 2008 confidence vote in Lok Sabha.

The apex court had last year directed the agency to trace the source of money while refusing to monitor the probe. "It is unfortunate that the Delhi police has chosen to stop further investigation to find complete trail of money or the real beneficiaries and have failed in their public duty in spite of clear directions of the Supreme Court," Kulaste's counsel Anil Soni said in an application moved before the court.

He also alleged that the police "has chosen not to probe or reveal the call details of S P Gupta, Aman Arora and Lovely Singh although co-accused Sohail Hindustani has categorically stated that they were instrumental in introducing conversing with senior leaders of the Congress (especially Ahmed Patel) to make a deal to pay BJP 'venerable' MPs to vote in favour of the UPA".