New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court has granted bail to former BJP advisor Sudheendra Kulkarni and two former BJP MPs Mahavir Singh Bhagora and Faggan Singh Kulaste in the cash-for-votes scam case. The anticipatory bail plea of BJP MP Ashok Argal has also been accepted.
Kulkarni was named a co-conspirator in the scam along with Amar Singh.
The High Court has also granted bail to Sanjeev Saxena and Sohail Hindustani, alleged middlemen and who were the first people to be arrested in the case.
All the accused have been asked to pay Rs 2 lakh each in surety.
On July 22, 2008, three BJP MPs - Mahavir Singh Bhagora, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Ashok Argal - dramatically strode into Parliament waving wads of money. The BJP has alleged that they had been given this money as bribe to abstain from voting in a trust vote that the Manmohan Singh-led UPA 1 government faced. The MPs were caught on hidden camera receiving money from middlemen who allegedly represented politician Amar Singh.
The Delhi Police has charged Sudheendra Kulkarni, who was then an advisor to senior BJP leader LK Advani, of having masterminded the scam. He was arrested and sent to jail in September this year. Mr Bhagora and Mr Kulaste had been arrested earlier that month as was Rajya Sabha MP, Amar Singh, who the Delhi Police alleges paid the money to the BJP MPs. Mr Singh has been charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act; he was the first person in the case to get bail last month on medical grounds. He has denied all charges against him.
Ashok Argal is still a BJP MP and had not been arrested yet as the police needed to get the Lok Sabha Speaker's nod before doing so. In short proceedings today, the court granted bail to all the six people after the Delhi Police said it did not oppose the applications.
Sudheendra Kulkarni said he acted as a whistle-blower and a political activist when he persuaded the three BJP MPs to put themselves on the political market ahead of the trust vote, which Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh went on to win.
The BJP too has maintained right along that this was part of a sting operation to expose the UPA government and today welcomed the grant of bail to its partymen and Mr Kulkarni, who has since dissociated with the party. Party spokesperson Nirmala Sithraman reiterated the party stand that these men were but whistleblowers exposing corruption and that they had placed the money they recieved in the House.
"We stand by them and hope that the scope of the prosecution will be widened," Ms Sithraman said. Senior BJP leaders, including party partriarch LK Advani visited Mr Kulkarni and the two former BJP MPs in jail. In Parliament recently, Mr Advani dramatically dared the government to jail him too. He said that as Leader of the Opposition in 2008, he was aware of his party's plans to entrap the government ahead of the trust vote.