'BSP worker' held for blackmailing Amar Singh

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police claim to have picked up a person for demanding Rs 5 crore from SP leader Amar Singh in lieu of making a statement in his favour before a Parliamentary panel probing the cash-for-vote scam. Hashmat Ali was arrested from Amar Singh���s residence on Thursday.

Ali, described by Singh as a BSP worker, had gone to Singh's residence this morning and demanded the hefty amount for changing his statement he had given to the panel, the SP leader claimed at a press conference.

Singh said Ali, who was to depose before the Inquiry Committee on Friday, came to his residence around 8.30 am and said he could save the reputation of the SP leader by giving a favourable statement to the panel.

A person, whom Singh described as Hashmat Ali, was seen being taken away in a car from the SP leader's residence. "I am being kidnapped," the person shouted to reporters. However, Crime Branch of Delhi Police said that Ali was under detention and being questioned.

The issue of "kidnapping" of Ali is understood to have figured at the meeting of the Parliamentary panel with CPM member Mohammad Salim understood to have raised the issue.

Salim is learnt to have said that someone was trying hard to see that crucial evidence in the cash-for-vote scam was not brought before the panel to enable it reach the truth.

Opposition BJP termed Ali's detention as a "stage-managed" show by Singh and attacked him for trying to "influence and intimidate" the witness and the Committee.

"This is a stage-managed show and an attempt to intimidate and influence the witness and the committee," BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar said demanding a new probe into the matter.