Cash-for-vote case: Amar Singh, five others charge sheeted

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Wednesday filed a charge sheet in a court against six people, including former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, in the cash-for-vote scandal.

The charge sheet filed before Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal also named sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ashok Argal, former BJP MPs Fagan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora, Amar Singh's former aide Sanjeev Saxena and arrested middleman Sohail Hindustani.

On July 22, 2008, three BJP MPs waved wads of currency notes on the floor of the Lok Sabha ahead of a trust vote, alleging they were given the money to vote in favour of the Manmohan Singh government.

They have been charged with various offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Slammed by the Supreme Court for a shoddy probe into the scandal, police made the first arrest in the case July 17. Saxena was the first to be taken into custody.

The case was registered in 2009 on the recommendation of a parliamentary panel which probed the scandal.

Ahead of the trust vote, Saxena was reportedly introduced to Argal, Kulaste and Bhagora as a secretary of Amar Singh. He was caught on camera paying them bribes.

The trust vote was called after the Left parties withdrew support over the India-US nuclear agreement.