Cash-for-vote 'whistleblower' sent to Tihar jail

A Delhi trial court on Tuesday sent BJP leader LK Advani’s aide Sudheendra Kulkarni to Tihar jail in connection with the 2008 cash-for-vote scam. Rejecting his plea for interim bail, special judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal remanded Kulkarni in judicial custody till October 1. He is the sixth person to be arrested in the case.

Kulkarni, 54, called himself a whistleblower and said he had done nothing wrong. “The charge against me is false. I am innocent,” he told reporters while being taken into custody. “Along with three BJP MPs and Suhail Hindustani (Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh’s aide), I attempted to expose the purchase of MPs in July 2008.”

The ‘whistleblower’ emphasised that neither his party nor he benefited from the sting. “If my purpose was to pocket money, I would not have allowed it to be shown in Parliament. In fact, it was a deal of Rs9 crore, not Rs1 crore. If I were to take illegal gratification, I could have got Rs8 crore more,” Kulkarni’s counsel Mahipal Singh told court.

The BJP accused the government of conspiring against those wanting to expose corruption. “Action has been taken only against whistleblowers. The actual beneficiaries of the scam are roaming scot-free,” said BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman. The Congress, meanwhile, felt vindicated by the verdict.

“The BJP’s role in destablising thegovernment is out in the open,” said Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi. 

The court also pulled up the prosecution for arresting only some of the accused named in the charge sheet.

“It (prosecution) cannot pick and choose,” the judge said.