on its probe into ‘cash for votes’ during a trust vote in parliament during monsoon session on July 22, 2008.
An apex court bench by Justice Aftab Alam and Justice R.M. Lodha directed the Delhi Police to file the status report on its investigations into ‘cash for vote’ scam within a week.
The court order came during the hearing of a petition by former chief election commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh and a NGO India Rejuvenation Initiative (IRI), saying the Delhi Police have not investigated the scam though a first information report had been filed three years ago.
Besides Lyngdoh, other petitioners include former Jt. Director, CBI, B.R.Lal, former Uttar Pradesh DGP, Prakash Singh, former Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy, super cop Julio Ribeiro, former bureaucrats S.A.T.Rizvi and Javed A.Chowdhury.
The court directed the listing of the matter for further hearing on July 15, 2011.
The court rejected the submission by Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium seeking another two months for the Delhi Police to finish its investigations. The court said that two months was a very long time.
The cash-for-votes scam had rocked the nation when wads of currency notes were placed on the table of Lok Sabha amidst allegations that ruling party was using money power for influencing the certain MPs in the opposition to secure their votes for July 22, 2008, trust vote.
The trust vote necessitated following withdrawal of the Left parties support to the United Progressive Alliance government on the India-US civilian nuclear deal.
The petition said that government did noting to unearth the truth as it knew that the “truth will come out the moment any serious and independent investigation is conducted into the matter.”
Thus the matter is pending with Delhi police for last three years. “The fact that Delhi police is directly under the Government of India, the same very entity whose conduct is being investigated”, the petition pointed out.
The petition said that “there cannot be a more pressing issue in the realm of public life than the sale and purchase of Members of Parliament to earn majority in the House and to remain in power on the basis of corruption and bribery.”