JOIN USSingh was admitted to All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on September 12 after his arrest by Delhi police’s Crime Branch for his alleged role in the scam on September 6.
Special Judge (Anti-Corruption) Sangita Dhingra Sehgal rejected Singh’s regular as well as interim bail applications in view of the gravity of the allegations against him.
“The accused has been named in an incident which showed desperate depths to which certain political functionaries and parties stooped and the exposures represent a gross moral degeneration which disgraced the sacrosanct parliamentary democracy,” the court said.
“The incident, which is the basis of the present case, has far-reaching consequences which are beyond imagination and have a very deep impact on society at large as an attempt to subvert the functioning of Parliament and mock the Republic of India has been made,” it added.
The court noted that Singh had played a “major role” in the entire episode which had come to light on July 22, 2008, during the debate on the trust vote in the Lok Sabha being forced upon UPA-I due to withdrawal of support by Left parties after Indo-US nuclear deal.
The court, however, did not direct Singh’s immediate arrest and sending him to judicial custody as he has been recuperating in AIIMS due to various kidney-related ailments. Singh’s aide Sanjeev Saxena, arrested on July 17, was also denied bail by the Court.
As many as six persons, including BJP leader L K Advani’s ex-aide Sudheendra Kulkarni, have so far arrested in the case.
BJP leaders’ visit
Senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley on Wednesday visited Tihar Jail to meet Sudheendra Kulkarni, the man they described as a mere whistleblower in the cash-for-vote scam.
Kulkarni, a former aid of Advani, was sent to jail on Tuesday due to his alleged role in the 2008 scam in which BJP MPs displayed cash at Lok Sabha ahead of the trust vote on UPA-I government and claimed that they had been bribed to vote in their favour. The MPs were also jailed in connection with the scam.
Jaitley said the party would defend Kulkarni both politically and legally. “They have exposed the crime , they have not done any crime. They are whistleblower.”