A Delhi court today issued a non-bailable warrant against Sohail Hindustani, one of the accused in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam case, after he and his counsel failed to appear before the court.
Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal directed that a non-bailable warrant be issued against Hindustani, an alleged BJP activist who, along with other co-accused, is out on bail.
“Issue non-bailable warrants to Sohail Hindustani with notice to surety for August 22,” the court said.
Neither Hindustani nor his counsel appeared in the court for hearing. On being asked by the judge, the counsel for the other accused said they had no information about their whereabouts.
Meanwhile, the counsel for accused ex-BJP MP Faggan Singh Kulaste, sought call detail records of co-accused and Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh, a senior Congress leader, prosecution witnesses SP Gupta and Lovely Singh.
Kulaste’s counsel Anil Soni said “the Delhi Police is not providing them the call details due to its malafide designs.”
At this, the counsel for Delhi Police told the court that during the investigation, the call details of the said persons were neither collected nor do they exist.
Soni also made a brief argument demanding further investigation into the matter, saying “the police and the prosecution have acted in a malafide manner.”
The court will hear further arguments on September 15.
With Hindustani and his counsel giving a miss to the hearing today, the judge issued the court notice to all accused persons to appear before her on August 22.
On July 22, 2008, some BJP MPs had waved wads of currency notes on the floor of the Lok Sabha during the trust vote faced by the UPA-I government, claiming they were given the money to vote in favour of the Manmohan Singh government.
Former Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, BJP leader LK Advani’s former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni, BJP MP Ashok Argal, two ex-party MPs Kulaste and Mahabir Singh Bhagora, along with Amar Singh’s former aide Sanjeev Saxena and Hindustani, are accused in the case.
