Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Bangaru Laxman has been convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act in the 2001 Tehelka sting case. A Delhi court convicted Bangaru on Thursday and announced that the sentencing would take place on Saturday. The court of special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge Kanwaljeet Arora sent Bangaru into judicial custody soon after convicting him.
Bangaru was caught on camera accepting money in a 2001 sting operation conducted by newsportal Tehelka.com. He was seen taking bribe from fake arms dealers for facilitating a fictitious defence deal case. The video CDs, which were released by the portal on March 13, 2001, had sparked a political storm following which Bangaru resigned as BJP chief.
The journalists posed themselves as representatives of a fictitious UK-based company West End International and were seeking his recommendation to the ministry for supply of hand-held thermal imagers for the Indian Army.
As per the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chargesheet, Tehelka journalists had held eight meetings with Bangaru between December 23, 2000, and January 7, 2001, projecting themselves as supplier of defence-related products.
The CBI had alleged that Bangaru had accepted Rs 1 lakh from the representatives of the purported firm on January 1, 2001, at his office for pursuing their proposal to supply certain products to the Army.
Bangaru was booked under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly accepting money from fake arms dealers to recommend to the Defence Ministry to award them a contract to supply their wares for the Army.
Bangaru’s former personal secretary T Satyamurthy, who was a co-accused, was granted pardon by a trial court after he turned an approver in the case.
–Agencies