New Delhi : The Janata Dal-United on Sunday suspended its Rajya Sabha MP Anil Sahni from its parliamentary board over his alleged role in the Leave and Travel Concession (LTC) scam.
“He failed to satisfy Rajya Sabha chairman (Mohammad Hamid Ansari) and parliamentary party leader Sharad Yadav on the charges against him in the LTC scam, and the party (on Sunday) suspended him from the parliamentary party membership,” JD-U leader K.C. Tyagi told IANS.
Ansari had on April 16 given his approval to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute Sahni for his alleged role in the scam.
“We then sent him a notice to explain, but he could not satisfy the party and was finally suspended,” Tyagi said.
The scam relates to reimbursements being claimed against fake boarding passes and bills from the Rajya Sabha secretariat.
The CBI had filed a charge sheet against Sahni and three others in the scam in October last year.
Sahni, however, has denied any wrongdoing and warned he would file a defamation case.
It has been revealed that Sahni and three other accused allegedly used forged e-tickets and fake boarding passes to defraud the Rajya Sabha of Rs.23.71 lakh.
This is the first time a Rajya Sabha chairman has given such a clearance, the Rajya Sabha secretariat sources said.
The CBI had filed a charge sheet in the case last year, and with the clearance from the Rajya Sabha chairman, the agency will now proceed with “further action”, which is likely to be the arrest of the MP.
Members of parliament or assemblies cannot be arrested without prior permission of the speaker of the Lok Sabha or the assembly or Rajya Sabha or legislative council chairman.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar twice sanctioned arrests, first in 2010 against Congress MP Rajaram Pal in the cash-for-query scam, and second time against BJP MP Ashok Argal in the cash-for-vote.