Sudheendra Kulkarni (54), who was sent to Tihar jail on Tuesday for his alleged role in the cash-for-votes scam, had not appeared before the court on two previous dates despite summons to him as he was in the US. Stating that he was a “whistleblower” in the scam, Kulkarni had moved an application for interim bail on the ground that he was not arrested by the Delhi police even during the probe into the case. But special judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal denied Kulkarni relief and ordered that he be taken into judicial custody till October 1 after which the court will hear his regular bail plea. The police, he claimed, had turned an expose into a case of entrapment. The court also reserved for Wednesday its order on the regular bail plea of Amar Singh who is out on interim bail, which was extended till Wednesday. During the arguments, the judge pulled up the prosecution for arresting only some of the accused named in the chargesheet. “They (prosecution) have no justification for arresting 2-3 accused and leaving the others behind. They cannot pick and choose,” the judge said. Seeking interim bail, Kulkarni said, “I cannot be made an accused in this case. An impression has been gathered that I did not appear before the court intentionally, but I was actually performing some fatherly duties. If you (judge) want, I can show you the documents in this regard.” Describing him as a person keen to expose corruption, Kulkarni’s counsel said no purpose would be served by keeping him in jail as the chargesheet was already filed and it would not prejudice the prosecution case if he was given bail. On the court’s query as to why he did not inform the law enforcement agencies immediately after the MPs were approached for their votes , the lawyer said, “I (Kulkarni) did not inform because I wanted to expose it in the Lok Sabha.”
No comments:
Post a Comment