Amar Singh’s bail pleas to be heard October 18

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The Delhi high court on Wednesday adjourned till October 18 the regular and interim bail pleas of Rajya Sabha member and former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, an accused in the 2008 cash-for-votes scandal.

Justice Ajit Bharihoke adjourned the matter till October 18 after the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) submitted Singh's medical report. The court accepted the report and noted that it needs time to go through it. Delhi police also filed a status report before the court.

The court had October 3 directed AIIMS and Delhi Police to submit Amar Singh's medical report and status report respectively. Seeking interim bail, Amar Singh's counsel argued that his client had undergone kidney transplant and was suffering from a urinary tract infection. He was "a sick and infirm person", he had submitted. After a Delhi court Sep 28 rejected Amar Singh's interim and regular bail pleas, the 55-year-old continues to be treated at the AIIMS where he was admitted September 12.

He had been arrested September 6 for his alleged involvement in an attempt to bribe MPs ahead of the July 2008 Parliament trust vote. On July 22, 2008, three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs — Faggan Singh Kulaste, Mahavir Singh Bhagora and Ashok Argal — waved wads of currency notes in the Lok Sabha ahead of the trust vote, alleging they were given the money to vote in favour of the Manmohan Singh government. After a Supreme Court rap for shoddy probe, police July 17 made their first arrest in the case, taking into custody Sanjeev Saxena, a former aide of Amar Singh.

Three days later, middleman Suhail Hindustani was arrested and September 6, Amar Singh and former BJP MPs Kulaste and Bhagora were taken into custody. Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani's former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni was the sixth person to be arrested in the case when he appeared before the court September 27. He then applied for an interim bail. A second supplementary chargesheet on October 3 made Argal, an MP from Bhind in Madhya Pradesh, an accused in the case.