Vigilance spells trouble for BJP's Shimla MP

Five years after he was elected to Lok Sabha from Shimla, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Virender Kashyap was booked by the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau on Thursday under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The action against the MP spells trouble for BJP ahead of the Lok sabha elections as the party has re-nominated Kashyap from Shimla (reserved seat ).

The case against Virender Kashyap was registered at vigilance bureau police station in Chhota Shimla under section 9 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 for taking gratification (for exercise of personal influence with public servant).

Kashyap was caught in a sting operation conducted by a news channel before he was elected to Lok Sabha in 2009. The compact disc (CD) containing footage of Kashyap in this regard was released in January 2010.

The BJP-government, headed by Prem Kumar Dhumal, had ordered a police probe to ascertain the veracity of the allegation. On the direction of the state government, then director general of police (DGP) DS Minhas had constituted a special team under superintendent of police Solan Hridesh Bisht to investigate into the contents of the CD. The police, after the completion of the probe, had given a clean chit to Kashyap.

On the other hand, the high court on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Right to Information (RTI ) activist Debashish Bhattacharya on November 28th had issued notices to Virender Kashyap, asking him and the government to file their replies within four weeks .

In the PIL, Bhattacharya had sought free and fair investigation into the video footage which purportedly showed Kashyap accepting 'bribe' from some persons at a resort in Solan.

The footage that was part of the sting operation conducted by a news channel was placed before the court. Allegations against Kashyap figured prominently in the Congress' 'chargesheet' filed against the Dhumal government .

On assuming office, the Congress government handed over the 'chargesheet' to the special investigating unit (SIU) of the vililance bureau for probe. It is on the basis of the investigations by SIU that the vigilance bureau registered a case against Kashyap on Thursday.