Sudheendra Kulkarni, who was arrested on September 27, will continue to stay in Tihar Jail. A Delhi court today said Mr Kulkarni, a former advisor to the BJP's top brass, made "an attempt to subvert the state of democracy."
In July 2008, Mr Kulkarni devised a plan to expose that the UPA government was willing to buy MPs to survive a trust vote in parliament. He asked three MPS from his party to solicit offers from political parties. The trio found a taker -Amar Singh, according to the Delhi Police. Mr Singh was then with the Samajwadi Party; he allegedly delivered a crore to the BJP MPs via his assistant. The three BJP MPS -Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahabir Singh Bhagora - walked into the Lok Sabha hours before the trust vote waving wads of notes.
They later said the one crore they brought to parliament was just an advance; they had been promised nine crores for their votes. Dr Manmohan Singh survived the vote.
Mr Kukarni and the BJP have described him as well as the three MPs as "whistle-blowers." The court today said, "They were never serious about exposing corruption."
Mr Kulaste and Mr Bhagora were arrested on September 6 along with Mr Singh and were denied bail today. Mr Argal has not been arrested yet because he is a serving member of the Lok Sabha and the Speaker, Meira Kumar, has to sanction action against him.
The judge said they had " ample opportunity to inform any law enforcing agency" about the bribe being offered to them.
The crime branch of Delhi Police has said that Mr Kulkarni was present when the one crore advance was paid to the BJP MPs.