Cash-for-vote scam: Probe widens, police quiz Suhail Hindustani

NEW DELHI: Suhail Hindustani, alleged to have acted as a liaison between Amar Singh and BJP MPs who were bribed during the 2008 trust vote, on Wednesday appeared before Delhi Police for questioning and alleged that the former SP leader was behind the operation to buy lawmakers.

Hindustani arrived at the crime branch office in Chanakyapuri on Wednesday morning along with some supporters who garlanded him. He was carrying a bouquet which he claimed was for a senior police official quizzing him to express his "profound" gratitude to the force for going ahead with the probe.

Before entering the police complex, Hindustani told reporters that he would tell police whatever he had told the parliamentary committee which probed the infamous cash-for-vote scam.

Hindustani, who claimed that he was earlier a BJP youth wing Yuva Morcha member, alleged that the operation was done by Amar Singh and some Congress leaders. He said police should examine his call records, which he claimed would throw light on who all called him between July nine and 22 of 2008.

He alleged that Singh and some Congress leaders were in constant touch with him.

"I will tell all these things to the police. They had approached me to get MPs from the BJP to save the government. They offered me posts like chairmanship (in some corporations)," he alleged.

Hindustani's appearance before investigators came as police issued a notice to him asking him to join the probe after arresting Sanjeev Saxena, once considered close to Singh, for allegedly delivering cash to three BJP MPs.

Expanding its probe, police has also initiated the process to possibly question Amar Singh and BJP MP Ashok Argal.