Hamid Ansari sanctions CBI prosecution against Rajya Sabha MP Anil Sahani

NEW DELHI: In a first for the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Hamid Ansari has given sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation to prosecute an MP. Informed sources told ET that the prosecution sanction was given against Janata Dal (United) MP Anil Sahani, who has been named by the CBI in an LTC scam. This relates to reimbursements being claimed against fake boarding passes and bills from the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.

While this is a first for the Rajya Sabha, such sanction has been given only twice earlier in the Lok Sabha. The first was in 2010 when then Speaker Meira Kumar gave sanction against Congress MP Rajaram Pal in the cash-for-query scam. A year later, she gave a sanction to Delhi Police against BJP MP Ashok Argal in the cash-for-vote case.

When contacted, Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav said: “We’ll see what happens, but party will surely consider action if there is any such thing.”

It’s learnt that Vice-President Ansari gave his consent a couple of days back and the same has already been communicated to the agency. The CBI had filed a chargesheet against Sahani and three others in the alleged LTC scam in October last year. The agency had sought a prosecution sanction against Sahani, but due to delay in the process went ahead and filed the chargesheet, said an official.

The CBI had registered six cases against Rajya Sabha members for allegedly filing fake inflated bills for their air travels. But others are yet to be chargesheeted. All parliamentarians get 34 free air tickets in a year for themselves, their family members and associates for domestic travel to their constituencies. The CBI in its chargesheet alleged that Sahani had caused a loss of about Rs 24 lakh through this alleged misrepresentation and fraud.