law seems to be catching with errant Members of Parliament with Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari granting sanction to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute Janata Dal (U) MP Anil Sahani — an accused in the lTC scam — and the Ethics Committee of the lok Sabha seeking explanation from five Trinamool Congress MPs, who were caught in a sting operation accepting cash last month.
The CBI had filed a chargesheet against Sahani alleging that he used forged e-tickets and fake boarding passes to defraud the Rajya Sabha to the tune of Rs 23.71 lakh as travel and dearness allowance reimbursement without undertaking the actual journey.
Besides Sahani, whose term in the Rajya Sabha ends in April 2018, others named in the CBI chargesheet include Anup Singh Panwar, an employee of Delhi-based Air Cruise Travels Private limited; NS Nair, then Office Superintendent (Traffic), Air India; and one Arvind Tiwari.
However, Sahani, a second time MP, had claimed that it was a “political conspiracy” by the BJP to malign him.
All parliamentarians (both the Rajya Sabha and the lok Sabha) are entitled to get 34 free air tickets in a year for themselves, their family members and associates for domestic travel to their constituencies.
Meanwhile, the Ethics Committee of the lok Sabha headed by senior BJP leader lK Advani has asked the TMC members to explain their position in the matter relating to alleged acceptance of cash purported to have been caught on camera, sources said.
The panel had earlier asked news portal Narada News, which had released video tapes of the sting, about the source of the clips and whether it stood by the sting operation.
The panel is understood to have sought the explanation from the MPs after getting the response of the news portal.
In the purported sting telecast last month, five TMC members from the lok Sabha - Saugata Roy, Sultan Ahmad, Suvendu Adhikari, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Prasoon Banerjee - and Mukul Roy from the Rajya Sabha, were shown allegedly accepting money from people representing a fictitious firm.
TMC MP Sultan Ahmad said, “I have heard about the notice. I am on tour campaigning for the election and I have yet not received the notice. When I get it, I will see.”
The matter could kick up a political row as it has again come into focus at a time when Assembly polls are underway in West Bengal and the BJP and other parties have launched an all-out attack against ruling TMC there.
While the issue led the BJP, the Congress and the left making a common cause in Parliament and outside to target the TMC on the matter, Mamata Banerjee’s party has been maintaining that the charges were part of a political conspiracy ahead of the West Bengal polls.