Court sends Amar to Tihar jail

If the July 2008 cash-for-vote scam was sensational, the arrest of former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh in the case was even more dramatic.

When special judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal began the hearing at 10am in a jam-packed court, Singh's lawyer said his client was too ill to personally appear.

The court wasn't impressed — Justice Sehgal asked for his medical records to be produced.

Instead of just the medical records, Amar Singh himself suddenly appeared in court.

"I lost my kidneys and I am now living on borrowed kidneys. There are hazards of being in public life and there is infection in my urinary tract which is dangerous for my borrowed kidney," Singh told the court, asking for interim bail on health grounds.

"I was having (health) problems since yesterday. I have faith in judiciary and in the Constitution. I was treated in Mt Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore and have to travel every three months (for medical check ups)," he told the special judge in the courtroom.

The court instead pointed out that the documents presented showed his medical history only up to September 2010.

"What has been your medical history since then?" the court asked Singh.

"There was little time today so I could not get all the reports," Singh quickly responded.

The expression on the judge's face clearly showed that his answer had failed to convince the court.

Justice Sehgal rejected the interim bail plea and sent Singh to judicial custody till September 19 — making him the fifth sitting Member of Parliament to be lodged in Tihar Jail. He was driven there in a blue Delhi Police prisoners' van.

What was the cash-for-votes case?

Over three years earlier, a stunned nation had watched wads of currency notes being displayed by BJP MPs on the floor of the Lok Sabha, claiming they had been offered money to save the UPA government during the July 22, 2008 trust vote — held after the Left withdrew support over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The Delhi Police chargesheet, filed on August 25, 2011, cited "circumstantial evidence" — including phone records and a car owned by Singh's company that allegedly delivered the cash — that the notes displayed in Parliament were sent by Singh to the BJP MPs to influence the trust vote. Singh was charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Who else was sent to jail?

The court also rejected the bail pleas of two other accused — former BJP MPs Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahabir Singh Bhagora — and sent them to judicial custody till September 19 as well. BJP leader L.K. Advani's former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni, also chargesheeted in the case, did not appear in court as he was abroad.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine (original Hindustan Times link from 2011 is no longer live)