TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: A week after he sought bail for Amar Singh by claiming that money meant to bribe opposition MPs during the 2008 trust vote was “likely” to have come from the BJP, noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani changedhistracktosaythatthe illicitcashcamefrom Congress.
Resuming his argument for Singh’s bail, Jethmalani told special judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal that Congress had arrangedfor thebribetobe paid to the BJP MPs at Le Meridien hotel. Cash-for-vote conspirator a Cong MP, says Jethmalani
“The place of receipt of the bribe was not Amar Singh's home, but Le Meridien hotel,” Ram Jethmalani said, alleging that the money was supposed to be brought there by “an MP and influential member of the party whose government was to be saved”.
Thecharge marked a deviation from the argument Jethmalani had put forward just a week ago. On September 12, the lawyer, citing L K Advani’s statement taking responsibility for the “sting operation”, had claimed that the source of bribe was “likely to be from the BJP”. The thrust of Jethmalani’s argument was that the “originator of the conspiracy” was not Singh but the person whose government was to be saved on July 22, 2008.
“Nowitis quiteclear thattheobjectofwhosoever was the conspirator on that day was to save the government during the motion of confidence. The motive to secure other parties' votes was to save the government. It was therefore quite natural that this conspiracy originated with those who wanted to save the government on that day,” he said.
Jethmalani focused on the alleged role of a senior Congress MP, although he claimed that he was not implicating anyone. His argument was that since the MP was trying to influence the opposition MPs, he had to be the bribe giver. He disputed the statement of three BJP MPs--AshokArgal,Faggan SinghKulaste and Mahabir Singh Bhagora -- that they had gone to meet Singh athisLodhiRoad residencetofinalize details of the “cash-for-vote” deal. “Before the alleged visit (of the MPs) to Amar Singh's house, a very significant event occurred when the MPs went to Le Meridien hotel with hidden cameras installed on their body,” the senior counsel said.
Jethmalani also said that while Samajwadi Party MP Reoti Raman Singh met the three BJP MPs, there was no evidence that Amar Singh met them. “Amar Singh is not even in the picture. It was another Samajwadi Party chap who turns up and suggests to go to Amar Singh. There is no face of Amar Singh, no voice in evidence to show that he met the MPs,” he said.
Public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan vehemently opposed Singh's plea saying thatthedefence counsel could not say at the initial stage that there was no prima facie case against the accused. “We are at the stage of bail. It is not the case where defence can say there is no prima facie case,” he said.
Regarding Singh's role in the case, the prosecutor said whatever transpired inside the house of Amar Singh was put before the parliamentary inquiry committee by Faggan Singh Kulaste. “Kulaste had told the parliamentary inquiry committee that Sanjeev Saxena (co-accused in the case) got the three MPs in touch with Amar Singh and that Singh offered Rs 1 crore as token money,” he said.
He said the committee recorded the statement of all the concerned persons who had anything to do with the case. To this, Singh’s counsel objected asking how could the prosecution rely on the statement of one accused to indict another accused.
With arguments on the regular bail remaining inconclusive, the court granted Singh interim bail till September 27. While extending Singh's interim bail which was to expire on Monday, special judge Sehgal also asked Sudheendra Kulkarni, a co-accused in the case, to appear before it on September 27 without fail.
While extending time for Kulkarni, who failed to attend the court on Monday despite his September 6 undertaking to the court, the court said no further extension would be granted to him.
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