A high-profile Indian lawmaker was arrested and sent into judicial custody for 14 days on Tuesday charged with involvement in a bribery scandal, potentially causing more embarrassment for the ruling Congress party shaken by a series of graft scandals.
Amar Singh, a former top leader of the Samajwadi party based in the key state of Uttar Pradesh, is accused of conspiring to bribe opposition lawmakers during a 2008 confidence vote on a landmark civilian nuclear deal with Washington. He was charged late in August in the case and a judge rejected a plea for bail on Tuesday, sending him into custody. It was the second arrest this week of a high-profile politician in India.
It comes less than two weeks since social activist Anna Hazare, 74, ended a hunger strike as part of a campaign for parliament to consider anti-corruption legislation following a series of graft scandals under the Congress Party-led government that rocked public confidence. Amar Singh, no relation to current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, denied the charges through a lawyer. "There is no evidence corroborating these allegations," Amar Singh's lawyer, Ashgar Khan, told reporters. "This is a false and concocted story made by the prosecution or by some other person," he added.
In 2008, Manmohan Singh led a shaky coalition government supported by communist parties from the outside who opposed the nuclear deal. He sought the support of the Samajwadi party among others outside the government to win a majority in parliament. The Congress party returned to power in May 2009, also in a coalition.
Police had earlier arrested a former aide to Amar Singh over allegations of attempting to bribe other lawmakers to vote for the nuclear deal. Three members from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also told a parliamentary inquiry that Amar Singh had offered them the bribes, after speaking to Ahmed Patel, the powerful political secretary to Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi. A US diplomatic cable, published by the WikiLeaks website, also suggested that the Congress party had attempted bribery. Amar Singh has a reputation for brushes with controversy, florid language and friendships with some of the country's biggest movie stars.
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