"If a man is committing an offence, you can film him in a sting operation, but you cannot entice and induce a man to commit an offence. Inducing and enticing a person to commit an offence is not permissible in law," senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for Bangaru, told Justice A K Pathak.
"I am a 72-year-old man and have already undergone a bypass surgery and I am on one kidney for last so many years," the lawyer said of the former Union minister, adding that grave prejudice would be caused if the bail is not granted to him.
Citing a high court judgement on sting operations, he said that inducing a person to commit a crime is "prohibited".
Earlier, Bangaru was sentenced to four years in jail, besides a fine of Rs one lakh, after being convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act for accepting Rs one lakh bribe from a fake arms dealer in the fictitious deal in 2001.
Bangaru was caught on camera in the sting operation accepting money in his chamber in the party headquarters and had to quit as BJP chief shortly after the expose which had created a huge political storm.
The sting was conducted by news portal tehelka.Com. The video CDs were released by the portal on March 13, 2001.
The scribes of the portal had posed as representatives of a fictitious UK-based company West End International and sought Bangaru's recommendation to the ministry for supply of "hand-held thermal imagers", a fictitious device, for the Indian Army. (More)
