Kishore Chandra Deo, who headed a Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2008 cash-for-vote scam, on Tuesday sought to justify his decision of not questioning Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh, whose close aide Sanjeev Saxena has been arrested, arguing there was no "prima facie evidence".
Deo insisted that there was no evidence to show that the government had tried to buy members of Parliament to vote for it during the confidence motion and said he stood vindicated by the action taken by the Delhi Police in the case.
"I hope the truth will come out. I am satisfied with the probe and action taken thereof on the basis of recommendations given by my Committee's report," said Deo while taking over as the new Panchayati Raj minister.
He was responding to the action taken by Delhi police in the case by arresting Saxena, said to be a close aide of Singh and who is alleged to have made the payment to three Bharatiya Janata Party MPs in an effort to make them vote for the government in July 2008.
Asked why Singh was not called before the Committee for examining him even when the three BJP MPs had named him, Deo said, "Since there was no prima facie evidence against him, I did not feel it necessary to summon Amar Singh."
Contending that he would have summoned Singh if there was any evidence, he said, "The committee acted on the basis of tapes handed over to us. There was neither his (Singh's) image nor his voice in the tapes."
Deo also denied any mala fide on the part of the government or Delhi Police over the delay in carrying out investigations into the case.
