By IANS,
New Delhi: Congress Lok Sabha member Kishore Chandra Deo, who headed the parliamentary committee to probe the ‘cash for votes’ scandal of 2008, Thursday said his report was “not yet a closed chapter”.
“My report is not yet a closed chapter. I had suggested further probe by investigating agencies,” Deo told reporters.
The functionaries of the first United Progressive Alliance central government and its supporters like ex-Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh were alleged to have bribed opposition MPs in return for their support to a trust vote after the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008 threatened to topple the Manmohan Singh government.
“My report was transparent. We acted on the available evidence,” Deo replied when asked why the report did not indict anyone.
“Those who criticise my report should first read it first,” he added.
Deo, a fifth-term MP, said that the Income-Tax department, Enforcement Directorate and police can probe the various aspects of the scam.
Asked whether the Supreme Court should take up the matter, he said: “More than the court, it should be the investigative agencies which should take up the matter.”
The ‘cash for votes’ scandal re-resurfaced Thursday, with The Hindu newspaper publishing official cables of a US diplomat based in New Delhi that he was shown piles of cash meant for bribing lawmakers by Nachiketa Kapur, aide of Congress leader Satish Sharma, onetime aide and confidante of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The message was part of a series of excerpts from whistleblower website WikiLeaks being published by the newspaper.
Both houses of parliament were adjourned Thursday after the opposition, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the issue.