Cash scam: Witness seeks cancellation of Amar Singh's bail

An oral plea by a witness to cancel the bail of Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Amar Singh, an accused in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam case, allegedly because he was being threatened on behalf of the parliamentarian, was rejected on Tuesday by a Delhi court.

Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal dismissed the oral plea of prosecution witness Hasmat Ali, saying that he should file a formal application for the same.

"Please cancel the bail of the person on whose behalf I am being threatened," Ali told the court. On being asked by one of the defence counsel as to who he was referring to, he named Singh.

Ali also filed a formal application for police protection alleging that he is facing threat to his life and is being threatened even on phone.

 The judge, however, told Ali that the court does not have the power to hear his plea for grant of protection and asked him to approach the member secretary of Delhi state legal services authority.

Earlier also in another court, Ali had accused Singh of getting him kidnapped on September 25, 2008, the day he was to make his deposition before the Parliamentary inquiry committee probing the scam, which involved alleged bribing of MPs for voting in favour of the governmemnt in 2008.

The court fixed January 17 to begin hearing arguments on framing of charge in the case. The court also supplied to all the accused copies of additional chargesheet filed by the Delhi police in the case.