Former Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, now being investigated by the Delhi police for his alleged involvement in the 2008 cash-for-votes scam, has flatly denied the charges against him and challenged investigators to come up with credible proof against him. His denial of the allegations against him came in nearly three hours of questioning by senior Delhi police officials here on Friday.
Mr Singh, who appeared to have gone virtually underground ever since the Delhi police stepped up its probe into the cash-for-votes scam, surfaced on Friday morning at the crime branch office in Chanakya-puri, arriving in a gleaming Mercedes. While he refused to speak to reporters waiting outside, he was said to be “at ease” though “evasive” when certain questions were put to him by interrogators. Sources indicated he might be summoned for questioning again on his role in the scam.
Samajwadi MP Reoti Raman Singh is learnt to be the next in line for questioning by the crime branch: he has been asked to appear on Saturday. He was called after his name surfaced during the questioning of BJP worker Suhail Hindustani, who has already been arrested for “orchestrating” the scam. A retired IAS officer, Mr S.P. Gupta, who was allegedly approached by Hindustani in connection with the bribery scam, has been made the first witness in the case by the police.
The crime branch officials who questioned Mr Amar Singh on Friday included joint commissioner Sandeep Gupta. Mr Singh was reportedly confronted with the statements made by Hindustani, in which he claimed that Amar Singh had contacted him through his aide, Sanjeev Saxena, to offer money to BJP MPs who were willing to abstain from voting in the crucial July 2008 Lok Sabha floor test.
Mr Saxena was confronted with both Hindustani and Saxena in the course of his questioning on Friday. Saxena and Hindustani were produced at a Tis Hazari court later on Friday, and remanded to judicial custody till August 4. The police told the court it was through with questioning both Saxena and Hindustani, and they were no longer required for investigations. Following this, the two were sent to Tihar Jail.
Hindustani’s counsel told the court that the ongoing investigation was a “malicious” one, and pointed out that while the Delhi police had given a so-called “clean chit” to the Congress and the Samajwadi Party in the case, it was questioning a former SP leader on Friday.
Former bureaucrat S.P. Gupta, known for his proximity to Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was reportedly approached by Hindustani at the India Islamic Cultural Centre on Lodhi Road, has now been made a witness in the cash-for-votes case. He reportedly told the police Hindustani had approached him with a list of BJP MPs who were willing to accept cash to abstain from voting.
Crime branch sources said while the conspiracy part of the scam had been “more or less established”, it was yet to identify those persons who had pooled in money that was then offered to the three BJP MPs to abstain from voting during the floor test. The sources said transaction details of some bank accounts, including those held and operated by BJP workers and leaders, were being scrutinised, and some more people might be asked to come in for questioning. The police has not ruled out the involvement of some BJP leaders in giving money to Suhail Hindustani, which was later offered to the three BJP MPs.
In the meantime, the Congress blamed the BJP MPs being investigated in the scam of being desperate to “sell themselves” at the time of the 2008 trust vote. “I could say many things which I am not saying. I could say that Sudheendra Kulkarni (former BJP leader) had once admitted it was organised by the BJP, but I am not saying it. I could say it was not a case of sting, but of MPs desperate to sell themselves so as to say to the public that the government had survived through other means. But why should I say all this?” remarked Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi.
He said the party was of the view that all aspects in this case should be examined and investigations completed fast so that the truth comes out. “It will not be appropriate to comment on the case in the middle of investigations,” he said.
BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said: “The BJP would like to pose the basic question: who was the beneficiary of the entire exercise conducted in 2008, when the government was almost about to fall?”