Amar Singh being questioned in cash-for-vote scam

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha member and former Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Amar Singh was Friday being questioned by Delhi Police Crime Branch officials in connection with the alleged bribery of three parliamentarians during the 2008 trust vote.

Amar Singh, who reached the office of the inter-state cell of the Crime Branch in New Delhi's Chanakyapuri Friday morning, refused to speak to waiting reporters and went straight inside.


Sanjeev Saxena, a former private secretary to Amar Singh, and Suhail Hindustani, a former member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Yuva Morcha, are already in police custody for their alleged role in what has come to be known as the cash-for-votes scam.

Both have named Amar Singh in the alleged horse trading, officials said.

Saxena alleged that Amar Singh, then with the SP, had provided Rs.1 crore for buying the support of three BJP MPs in a trust vote in 2008. Wads of currency notes were shown in the Lok Sabha July 22, 2008, minutes before a trust vote was to take place.

Hindustani, who allegedly played the liason between the SP leader and the BJP MPs, also levelled the same allegations against Amar Singh, saying he was the 'main' man behind the scandal.

The investigation into the case was speeded up after the Supreme Court last week slammed Delhi Police for their callous approach in the case.