Cash for query Scam After 12 yr. Charge sheet filed against 11 former MPs.
Cash for query Scam After 12 yr. Charge sheet filed against 11 former MPs.
A 2005 sting operation by Cobrapost had shown 11 MPs taking money to raise questions in Parliament.
A sting operation against the then MPs was conducted by two journalists which was telecast on a private news channel on December 12, 2005. It came to be known as the cash-for-query scam. The prosecution had relied upon CDs/DVDs containing conversations among the accused and others.
The charge sheet was filed by the Delhi Police in 2009.
Why delay of 4 years, crime happened in year 2005?
On December 24, 2005, the Parliament voted to expel the 11 MPs in a historic vote. Pranab Mukherjee , the leader of the house at the time, introduced a resolution asking for expulsion of the members while then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did the same in Rajya Sabha.
BJP did not like above action and BJP walked out of the vote saying it was a ‘kangaroo court’. BJP leader of the Opposition at the time, said that while what the MPs had done was corruption, but “more than that it was stupidity” and the punishment of expulsion was too harsh.
In January 2007, a Supreme Court verdict upheld the Parliament’s decision to expel the MPs. The MPs had filed a petition challenging their expulsion
The Delhi High Court in 2007 directed the Delhi Police to book people involved in the offence. Two Cobrapost journalists, Aniruddha Bahal and Suhasini Raj, were also named in the charge sheet for abetting the offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, but the case against them was later quashed, with the court ruling that no one could be prosecuted for carrying out sting operations.
Today Delhi Court framed graft and criminal conspiracy charges against 11 former parliamentarians in the infamous 2005 cash-for-query scam.
The proceedings against one of an accused, Vijay Phogat, have been abated as he has passed away. Phogat was alleged to be a middleman.
Following are the names of accused MPs in this Cash for query scam
1-Y G Mahajan (BJP),
2-Chhatarpal Singh Lodha (BJP),
3-Anna Saheb M K Patil (BJP),
4- Suresh Chandel (BJP)
5-Chandra Pratap Singh (BJP)
6- Pradeep Gandhi (BJP)
7-Narender Kumar Kushwaha (BSP)
8- Lal Chandra Kol (BSP)
9- Raja Rampal (BSP)
10- Manoj Kumar (RJD)
11-Ram Sewak Singh (Congress)
The court also framed charges against Rampal’s then PA, Ravinder Kumar, special public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava said.
The court framed charges against the accused for the offences of criminal conspiracy under the IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Special Judge Kiran Bansal put the 11 former MPs and an individual on trial, which will commence from January 12, 2018
Why it took 12 years to frame charges against accused?
Delay helps criminals to destroy evidence.
Justice Delayed Justice Denied
Reality views by sm –
Thursday, December 7, 2017
Tags – Cash For Query Scam BJP Congress 2005