Sukh Ram -- presently Minister for Public Works and Power in Himachal Pradesh -- sought to quash proceedings against him after the April 17 Supreme Court judgment in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MPs bribery case. The apex court had ruled that for an MP to be prosecuted, prior sanction was mandatory from either the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha or the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, as the case may be. The arguments on charge against Sukh Ram, former Department of Telecommunications (DoT) official Runu Ghosh and Hyderabad-based Advanced Radio Mast Limited (ARM) managing director Paturu Rama Rao concluded on April 17. The judge had reserved orders till today for framing of charges against the accused.

But Sukh Ram's counsel Gopal Subramaniam yesterday moved an application seeking quashing of the charges. Theapplication mentioned that since the CBI had not sought any sanction from the appropriate authority before the court took cognizance of the case, the proceedings against Sukh Ram should be dropped.