Tehelka sting operation: 11 years later, Jaya Jaitly to face trial

With framing of charges against former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitely and two others, a Delhi court on Monday paved the way for the trial against them in an alleged corruption case of 2001 relating to defence deal.

Appearing before the court of special judge Kawal Jeet Arora, Jaitley, her erstwhile party colleague Gopal Pacherwal and retired Major General SP Murgai pleaded not guilty and claimed to face trial in the case.

The court framed charges against them for the offence of hatching criminal conspiracy under section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code and various other sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with “taking gratification for exercise of personal influence with public servant”. The court posted the matter for April 20.

The case was registered on the basis of a sting, ‘Operation Westend,’ conducted by newsportal tehelka.com in 2000, purportedly exposing alleged corruption in defence deals.

The CBI had submitted a charge sheet in 2006. The CBI alleged that Jaitley had accepted a bribe of Rs2 lakh in 2001 in exchange for persuading then defence minister George Fernandes to award the contract of hand-held thermal imagers to Westend International.