Par Comm probing cash-for-vote scam gets one month extension

NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary Committee looking into the 'cash-for-vote' scam has been given one more month to complete its probe into allegations by three BJP MPs that they were offered money to back the Manmohan Singh government during the crucial trust vote on July 22. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has extended the tenure of the Committee till September 30 for submission of its report.

The Special Enquiry Committee headed by senior Congress MP V Kishore Chandra Deo had decided to seek more time in order to complete its task at its last meeting. The term of the Committee was to expire on August 29. The Committee was set up after the three BJP MPs displayed wads of currency notes during the debate on the confidence motion in the Lok Sabha alleging that attempts were made to bribe them in order to enlist their support during the trust vote.

In their petition seeking a probe into the scam, the three BJP MPs -- Ashok Argal, Fagan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora -- are believed to have named SP General Secretary Amar Singh and Congress leader Ahmed Patel. But both Singh and Patel have denied the charge.

While Argal and Kulaste have already appeared before the panel, Bhagora could not do so because he was not well. Samajwadi Party leader and Lok Sabha MP Reoti Raman Singh, BJP activist Sudheendra Kulkarni, Amar Singh's reported aide Sanjeev Saxena and Suhail Hindustani, who was seen in a sting operation CD released by CNN-IBN purportedly showing the handing over of money, have already deposed before the Committee.

The panel also recorded the evidence of some representatives of the private television channel. Three members of the panel suggested that Saxena should undergo narco-analysis test as he was "incoherent" on some issues while deposing before it.