Delhi police widened probe in the 'cash for votes' scandal

Sohail Hindustani has become the second person to be arrested for a vote-buying scandal that allegedly took place in 2008. Police had questioned him about his role in trying to buy votes from opposition leaders and later arrested him under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He claims to have been offered money for bribing the opposition members in 2008.

The police are also planning to question Amar Singh, former leader of the Samajwadi party, which had been part of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition in 2008, as well as Member of Parliament Ashok Argal of the opposition Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and Sudheer Kulkarni, former aide of BJP leader LK Advani.

Allegations abound

Hindustani spoke to reporters and mentioned the names of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi. "People could not believe that Manmohan Singh and the Congress Party could stoop to this level to save the government." He claims to have received calls from Amar Singh and from political secretary to Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel. "Those close to the prime minister called me" from Sonia Gandhi's residence, Hindustani said, urging police to examine his call records from July 9 and 22, 2008, for proof.

He has promised to reveal all he knew about the scam and everything he had divulged to the Parliamentary Committee, which had originally prompted the investigation of the "cash for votes" scam. According to Hindustani, the operation was carried out by Amar Singh and a number of Congress leaders.

'Shoddy probe'

Last week, the Supreme Court of India criticized the Delhi Police for its "callous" approach and "shoddy probe" regarding the matter. Earlier this week, police arrested Sanjeev Saxena, who is believed to have been an aide of Amar Singh. Saxena was arrested on charges of allegedly trying to buy votes from three BJP members of parliament.

The scandal took place in 2008 when leftist parties withdrew their support from the UPA party government and the Congress led UPA had to face a vote of confidence in the parliament. The UPA won by 19 votes and stayed in power.

After the vote, BJP members were seen waving wads of money in their hands, a suggestion that the UPA had paid off members of the Congress for votes.



In March this year, the whistleblower website Wikileaks published US diplomatic cables revealing that the Indian Congress had arranged nearly 13 million dollars as payoffs to parliament members from the opposition party. Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks has accused the Prime Minister of deliberately misleading the public. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has denied the charges, saying the cables could not be verified.

Author: Manasi Gopalakrishnan (PTI, dpa)
Editor: Sarah Berning