Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh faces arrest again in 2008 cash-for-vote scam as a Delhi court today dismissed his regular as well as interim bail pleas saying his role was "major" in the entire episode aimed at "disgracing" parliamentary democracy.
The court said the incident showed that Singh and other political functionaries, including arrested BJP leaders, in the case "stooped to a level beyond imagination" aimed at "subverting" the functioning of Parliament.
"From the material on record, it appears prima facie that there are fingers which point that the accused [Singh] played a major role in the entire episode which came to light on July 22, 2008, during the debate on the motion of confidence in the Lok Sabha," Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal said.
The court, which also dismissed the bail plea of Singh's former aide and co-accused Sanjeev Saxena, narrated the incident when Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahabir Singh Bhagora (then BJP MPs) displayed wads of currency notes of Rs 1 crore from bags with them and placed the same on the table of the House.
"And there is no need to discuss the evidence threadbare and elaborate the same further touching the merits of the case as it may prejudice the case of the accused applicant [Singh] as well as the case of other accused," it said.
The court, in its 17-page order, said the present case has "far-reaching consequences" as it was an attempt to subvert the functioning of Parliament.
"The accused has been named in an incident which showed desperate depths to which certain political functionaries and parties stooped and the exposers represent a gross moral degeneration which disgraced the sacrosanct parliamentary democracy," it said.
