Cash-for-votes: Police gets HC notice on Amar aide

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today issued notice to the city police on the bail plea of Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh's former aide Sanjeev Saxena, arrested for his alleged role in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam.

Justice ML Mehta issued notice to the Delhi Police seeking its reply by November 14. Saxena is lodged in Tihar Jail following his arrest on July 17 in the case.

Saxena is accused of delivering Rs 1 crore to then BJP MPs and co-accused Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahabir Singh Bhagora under a conspiracy to buy their votes for the Congress-led UPA-I government in the July 2008 trust motion by it.

Argal is still an MP. Saxena has come to the high court challenging the trial court's order denying him bail on September 28.

The trial court had denied him bail on the ground that he had "links" with co-accused Amar Singh and had played the role of a facilitator in the case. The trial court had earlier also denied bail to four other co-accused Kulaste, Bhagora besides senior BJP leader LK Advani's former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni and a small time political activist Suhail Hindustani.

The four have already approached the high court for bail challenging the trial court order and Justice Mehta has already issued notice to the police on their bail pleas for the same day, November 14. Amar Singh has already been granted bail by the high court on health grounds.

The trial court had dismissed Saxena's bail plea taking into account that the MPs were allegedly bribed in the case to subvert constitutional and parliamentary norms.

Saxena had said that he came in touch with co-accused and alleged BJP worker Suhail Hindustani, who allegedly took him to the party headquarters and the in-charge there had handed over two bags to Hindustani who in turn handed over one bag to him to give it to Ashok Argal.

As soon as he realised that a conspiracy was hatched by BJP and BSP to destabilise the then UPA-I government and to malign Congress leader Ahmed Patel and Amar Singh, he forwarded an apology for his role by writing to both of them, Saxena had said in his bail plea before the trial court.

Saxena has been booked for the charges of criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The high court had earlier stayed the trial court's order issuing summons to Samajwadi Party MP Rewati Raman Singh to appear as an accused in the case.

The high court had stayed the proceedings till the next date of hearing on November 15 while allowing Rewati Raman Singh's plea that he be not forced to appear as an accused before the trial court.

It had also exempted Ashok Argal from appearing personally before the trial court till a decision on his anticipatory bail plea slated for hearing on November 14.