Former party President Bangaru Laxman convicted for accepting Rs one lakh bribe from alt145 arms dealeralt39
OUR BUREAU New Delhi
In a huge embarrassment to the BJP, its former president Bangaru Laxman was on Friday c
onvicted for accepting Rs one lakh as bribe from a fake arms dealer in a sting operation eleven years ago. In a quid pro quo, Bangaru had offered to recommend to the Defence Ministry that it should award the alt145 arms dealeralt39a contract to supply thermal binoculars to the Army.
Laxman, a former Union minister, was caught on camera accepting money in his chamber in the party headquarters; he had to quit as its president shortly after the sting exposé, which had created a huge political storm.
The long arm of the law finally caught up with Laxman on Friday and he was taken to Tihar Jail. He will be produced in the court on Saturday, when it will hear arguments on the quantum of sentence.
The court turned down Laxmans plea for bail, saying that the request would be considered only after the sentence is pronounced.
Clad in a cream kurta and white pyjama, Laxman stood shell shocked in the witness box as the judge pronounced the verdict. He refused to talk to any one and sat dumbfounded in the witness box for a long time. His daughter was also present in the court. Later the police took him into custody.
The sting operation was conducted by newsportal tehelka. com.
The scribes had claimed that they were representatives of a fictitious UKbased company.
Bangarus former personal secretary, who was a coaccused, had been granted pardon by a trial court after he turned an approver in the case.
Commenting on the sting operation, the judge said, ‘I am of the opinion that the method adopted by the Tehelka people may be objectionable, but their purpose was not,’the court said. The BJP on Friday distanced itself from its former chief, down playing the verdict as a ‘decision on his personal conduct’even as the Congress asserted the verdict had exposed the saffron partys true face.
‘This is Bangarus personal matter. The verdict is on his personal conduct and not on the BJP,’party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters.
‘On a personal level, he has a complete right to defend himself further and decide the future course of action,’he added.
The Congress hit out against the BJP, which has been demanding a fresh inquiry into the Bofors scam.
‘Had Jaswant Singhji demanded a judicial commission on Tehelka sting in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, I would have accepted that BJP is an honest and upright party,’said union minister Kapil Sibal, referring to the BJP leaders impassioned plea on Thursday for a fresh probe in the Bofors scam.
‘But when you ( BJP) try to raise a 25- year- old incident in which theres no proof and try to hide the reality, it clearly reveals the double- faced politics of BJP,’he added.
Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari said the verdict indicated the need for the BJP to self- introspect.
‘The country knows now that before advising others about morality, the BJP needs to look into its own management. If the BJP has capacity for introspection, they need to do it,’Tiwari told reporters.
Communist Party of India ( CPI) national secretary D. Raja said the verdict was a revelation of the ‘rot in defence system of the country’.
