Cash-for-votes: BJP MP Ashok Argal booked

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ashok Argal was on Monday made an accused in a second supplementary charge sheet Delhi Police filed in a court here in the 2008 cash-for-votes scam that rocked parliament during a trust vote.

"Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal took cognizance of the charge sheet and issued notice to Argal for October 14," said senior public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan.

Police filed the charge sheet three days after getting permission from Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar for prosecuting Argal, an MP from Bhind in Madhya Pradesh.

According to Rajiv Mohan, police submitted the sanction order from the speaker in the court.

Six people, including former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and Sudheendra Kulkarni, former aide of BJP leader L.K. Advani, have been arrested in the case.

Police filed the first supplementary charge sheet in the court September 30.

On July 22, 2008, three BJP MPs, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Mahavir Singh Bhagora and Ashok Argal waved wads of currency notes on the floor of the Lok Sabha just hours 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 the first arrest in the case. They took into custody Sanjeev Saxena, former aide of Amar Singh.

Three days later, middleman Suhail Hindustani was arrested. On Sep 6, Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh and former BJP MPs Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahabir Singh Bhagora were taken into custody after the court rejected their pleas for interim bail.

The sixth person to be arrested in the case was Kulkarni who appeared before the court September 27.