Digvijay Singh appears before MP court

Bhopal, Feb 27: Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh today appeared before a court here in connection with an alleged recruitment scam at the Assembly Secretariat here which took place when he was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Singh appeared before the Special District and Sessions Judge Kashinath Singh. The court had yesterday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant when the ex-CM, an accused in the alleged scam, did not turn up in the court where a 169-page supplementary charge sheet was also filed in the case.

The Rajya Sabha member was summoned by prosecuting agency - MP Police - to attend the court proceedings. He was accompanied by MP Congress President Arun Yadav, former Union Minister Suresh Pachouri and his lawyer Vivek Tankha around 11.30 AM.

Yesterday, seven other accused including K K Kaushal and A K Pyasi - who appeared in the court - were granted bail after they furnished a personal security bond of Rs 30,000 each.

Kaushal and Pyasi were employees of the Secretariat. Ahead of filing the charge sheet, police had last year grilled the veteran Congressman for five hours in connection with the scam.

The scam pertains to alleged irregularities in recruitment in MP Assembly Secretariat here between 1993 and 2003 when Singh was Chief Minister. Last year, Singh had reportedly told investigators that all recruitments in the Secretariat during his tenure were done with the approval of State Cabinet and as per prescribed rules.

The accused have been charged with forgery, cheating, conspiracy and misuse of office as well as offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

PTI