Committee to submit report on cash for vote scam by month end

MONEY MATTERS: In the CD, Sanjeev Saxena is allegedly shown giving Rs one crore bribe to the BJP MPs.

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New Delhi: For Samajwadi Party MP Reoti Raman Singh the cash for votes CD showing him negotiating with three BJP MPs ahead of the Trust Vote placed him in the line of fire. But on Monday Reoti Raman said that “truth shall prevail.”

In the CD, Reoti Raman mentions the word 'amount' repeatedly while talking to the BJP MPs but in front of the Parliament panel, the MP claimed that he wasn’t referring to money.

Also, under scrutiny on Monday was Sohel Hindustani, the alleged middleman who had fixed the meeting between the SP MP and the three BJP MPs. The middleman also told the Parliament committee that he was being trapped in a political battle.

In Parliament, Hindustani agitatedly recited that those who “live in glass houses should not throw stones at others.”

But it is Sanjeev Saxena believed to be an associate of SP leader Amar Singh whose role has aroused the maximum curiosity.

In the CD, Saxena is allegedly shown giving Rs one crore bribe to the BJP MPs. But on Monday, he chose to stay away from the camera and sources told CNN-IBN that at the committee meeting he insisted that he was not involved in bribing MPs or that he was operating on Amar Singh's instructions.

But the BJP's Sudheendra Kulkarni, who had been present with the three MPs when the alleged bribe was given, claims that there is enough evidence linking Saxena with Amar Singh.

“If the inquiry is impartial then the guilty will be punished and Amar Singh will be found guilty. This Government will be in the dock if the probe is fair,” he said.

The Parliament committee has told reporters that it is satisfied with the progress of its inquiry and hopes to submit a report by the month end.

It is a report that will be anxiously awaited by political parties and in an election year is bound to generate some more political heat.