New Delhi:
Rasheed Masood, a Congress parliamentarian, has been arrested after he was sentenced to four years in prison by a Delhi court for corruption.
The 66-year-old member of the Rajya Sabha had been convicted last week for cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which investigated the case, asked the judge today to punish Mr Masood with the maximum sentence of seven years.
The agency's lawyer said in court today that "the law-maker has become a law-breaker."
Mr Masood is the first parliamentarian to be found guilty in a criminal case after the Supreme Court ruled that lawmakers stand immediately disqualified if they are convicted for offenses that carry a sentence of more than two years.
Mr Masood, who was health minister in the VP Singh government in the early 90s, has been convicted of misusing his office to grant admission in medical colleges to students who were not eligible.
The Congress MP had controversially said in July that
Rs. 5 could buy a hearty meal in Delhi, a comment meant to counter opposition criticism of the Planning Commission's stand that anyone who has access to
Rs. 28 a day is not poor.