Cops chargesheet Ashok Argal

The Delhi Police on Monday named BJP MP Ashok Argal as an accused in the 2008 cash-for-votes scam. Argal's name was included in a second supplementary chargesheet following a sanction granted by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to the police for his prosecution.

Special judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal will decide on his summons on October 7.

The police had earlier refrained from naming Argal as an accused, saying they needed the required sanction for his prosecution.

"I have received prosecution sanction of the competent authority to prosecute Ashok Argal, a sitting MP of the 15th Lok Sabha under Sections 7 and 13 (1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act," the investigating officer said in the chargesheet.

The police said no sanction was required to prosecute Argal for criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code. "No sanction is required under Section 120B of the IPC. The details of investigation and evidence against Argal have already been mentioned in the chargesheets filed in the court on August 24 and September 30," the chargesheet said.

The police have written to the additional secretary of the Lok Sabha to provide them the details of voting which took place on July 22, 2008.

"On October 3, 2011, the said details have been received, all the documents containing the details are attached with this supplementary chargesheet and concerned persons have been cited as witnesses," the chargesheet said. As per the details provided by the Lok Sabha, 275 MPs had voted in favour of the then UPA-I government, 256 MPs voted against it and two MPs abstained from the trust vote on July 22, 2008.

Earlier in the day, former BJP MP Faggan Singh Kulaste, through his counsel, sought details of phone calls made by former SP leader Amar Singh, Congress leader Ahmed Patel, senior bureaucrat S P Gupta, former minister Buta Singh's son Lovely Singh and three unknown numbers provided by him. He sought a set of "complete and unedited" set of DVDs containing footage of the CNN-IBN sting operation and extracts of an interview given by Sudheendra Kulkarni, a co-accused, to India Today.

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