BJP MP from Gujarat, Babubhai Katara, 50, was arrested today from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, minutes before he was to board a Toronto-bound Air-India flight along with a woman and a teenager.

Katara (50), who was elected to the Lok Sabha for a second consecutive term in 2004 from Dahod, allegedly accepted nearly Rs 30 lakh from the families of the woman, 26-year-old Paramjeet Kaur, and 17-year-old Amarjeet Singh from Hoshiarpur to fly them to Toronto on the passports of his wife and son.

The MP and his wife Shardaben, 45, have diplomatic passports. Amarjeet reportedly travelled on the passport of his son Rajesh Katara. The names of his sons in the election affidavit are Bhavesh and Amit.

“Paramjeet Kaur told us that she had contacted and paid money to a Punjab-based travel agent who had promised her safe passage to Toronto with the Parliamentarian,” said an airport police officer. Police are now trying to track down the travel agent.

In an immediate damage-control operation, the BJP suspended Katara from the party. Leader of Opposition L K Advani and BJP chief Rajnath Singh ordered his suspension barely hours after his arrest. “He has been suspended from the party on directions of the Leader of the Opposition and the party chief. A show-cause notice is also being sent to him,” Vijay Kumar Malhotra, the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, said.

Katara, a university-level sprinter and a VHP leader from Gujarat’s tribal district, won the 2004 election with a margin of just over 300 votes amidst allegations of bogus voting.

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