New Delhi, April 27: A Delhi trial court today convicted BJP’s former president Bangaru Laxman in the Tehelka sting case in which he was accused of accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from journalists masquerading as arms peddlers in a fictitious deal 11 years ago.
Laxman, who remains a member of the party’s national executive, was arrested and sent to Tihar jail but the quantum of sentence is yet to be handed out.
The 72-year-old leader from Andhra Pradesh looked ashen-faced as the judge pronounced the verdict. He did not want to talk to anyone and sat in the witness box for a long time. His daughter was also present in the court.
In 2001, Laxman was caught on camera accepting wads of money in the BJP headquarters on Ashoka Road. He tucked the cash away in a drawer after assuring the “arms dealer” that he would pursue their proposal to supply hand-held thermal imagers to the army.
He was convicted under Section 9 of the Prevention of Corruption Act for misusing his office for personal gratification and for attempting to influence other public officials.
Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ordered Laxman to step down as the party president on the very day that the “Tehelka” portal released the tapes. He was never rehabilitated although he periodically attempted to use his caste antecedent as a Dalit to make a comeback.
The BJP today sought to distance itself from the conviction. Spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said: “The party has nothing to do with this case that concerns an individual. We took prompt action against him when he was caught on camera. Let him go to court as an aggrieved party.”
However, Hussain added that the CBI, which probed the case and chargesheeted Laxman, should display the same “speed” while investigating other matters.
Party sources admitted that Laxman’s conviction had “somewhat impacted” their offensive against the Congress and the UPA on corruption. For the past two days, BJP MPs had led the uproar in Parliament over the Bofors deal and demanded reopening of the case and an independent inquiry into it.
Shortly after Laxman’s conviction, the Congress turned the tables on the BJP. HRD minister Kapil Sibal told reporters: “BJP has made history and its (former) party president stands convicted of corruption. I was sad when Jaswant Singh called for a judicial commission on Bofors. I wish he would ask for a judicial probe on the Tehelka sting. I wish no more Laxmans should emerge, either on camera or off.”
Spokesperson Manish Tewari counselled the BJP to “introspect” and remarked, “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others because only yesterday, the BJP had raised the Bofors bogey.”
According to the CBI chargesheet, the Tehelka journalists, who claimed to represent a ghost UK based company West End International, met Laxman eight times between December 2000 and January 2001. Laxman’s former personal secretary T Satyamurthy, who was a co-accused, was given a reprieve by the court after he turned an approver.
