A Delhi court ordered Argal to appear before it to face charges levelled by the city police against him in the 2008 cash-for-votes scam.
A Delhi court on Friday ordered sitting BJP MP Ashok Argal to appear before it on November 3 to face charges levelled by the city police against him in the 2008 cash-for-votes scam.
Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued summons to Argal, while taking cognisance of the second supplementary charge sheet by the police in the case, also involving Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh and senior BJP leader LK Advani's former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni, besides two former BJP MPs.
"Summons is issued against Ashok Argal for November 3," the judge said.
The court took cognisance of the charge sheet after public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan submitted that the sanction letter issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat to prosecute Argal was proper, a contention accepted by the judge.
Referring to earlier sanction orders to prosecute MPs in the cash-for-query scam, involving receipt of cash by members to pose queries in Parliament, Mohan said similar sanction order was given in that case also.
Earlier on October 7, the court had expressed reservation over the Lok Sabha secretariat's sanction order to try Argal, saying that the prosecution lacks a "proper" sanction order.
"This is just a letter (from the Secretary General Lok Sabha). You (prosecutor) may call it a communication or something else. What has to be before me should be a proper sanction order like in other cases. I am not satisfied with this kind of sanction letter," the court had said.
Argal was one of the three BJP MPs in the previous Lok Sabha who had waved wads of currency notes on the floor of the House ahead of the voting on confidence motion by UPA-1 in July 2008 alleging that the money had been paid to him to buy votes.
He was named as an accused in the second supplementary charge sheet filed by police on October 3, after the Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar granted sanction to the Delhi Police to prosecute him in the case.
Two others chargesheeted in the case were Amar Singh's former aide Sanjeev Saxena and a political activist Suhail Hindustani. All six, barring Argal are presently in judicial custody. Amar Singh undergoing treatment at AIIMS under custody.
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