Cash for votes: Probe panel summons SP MP

The Parliamentary Committee examining the cash-for-vote scam that shocked the Lok Sabha during the July 22 trust vote on Monday decided to summon Samajwadi Party lawmaker Reoti Raman Singh and three others on August 18.

Reoti Raman Singh's name figures in the complaint of three BJP MPs, who on the trust vote day displayed bundles of currency notes that they alleged were given to them to abstain on the crucial day to save the Manmohan Singh government.

Singh, who represents Allahabad constituency in the Lok Sabha, would appear before the seven-member panel along with Sudheendra Kulkarni (a former aide of BJP leader L K Advani), Sanjiv Saxena (who is said to have worked with SP leader Amar Singh), and Sohal alias Raja Hindustani, Committee Chairman Kishore Chandra Deo told media persons.

While two BJP MPs -- Ashok Argal and Fagan Singh Kulaste --

had already appeared before the committee, another BJP lawmaker Mahavir Bhagora could not do so earlier as he was hospitalised.

The committee would enquire about his health condition so that his evidence could also recorded.

Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief and five of his staff from CNN-IBN channel, which conducted the sting operation appeared before the panel on Monday.

Deo said the news channel gave two more tapes, which will be examined by the committee. He refused to disclose what Sardesai told the committee.

In their petition seeking a probe into the charge that attempt was made to bribe them to get their support in the trust vote, the three BJP MPs are believed to have named SP General Secretary Amar Singh and Congress leader Ahmed Patel.