New Delhi:
A high-level investigation has been ordered after a cash bundle was found on the Rajya Sabha seat of Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi. The high-level committee that will oversee the probe will include officials from security agencies, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, and senior MPs.
Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar told the MPs this morning that the cash bundle – of ₹ 500 notes amounting to a total of ₹ 50,000 – was found after the House was adjourned last evening. Mr Singhvi has clarified that he had never heard of such a thing, suggesting that bundle wasn’t his.
To find out how the cash bundle arrived there, CCTV footage from cameras installed in the House are being reviewed.
The discovery came during an anti-sabotage check Thursday, after which the Rajya Sabha Secretariat was informed and was placed at the ‘lost and found’ counter. Mr Dhankhar was then informed.
“I hereby inform the members that during the routine anti-sabotage check of the chamber after the adjournment of the House yesterday. Apparently, a wad of currency notes was recovered by the security officials from seat number 222 presently allotted to Abhishek Manu Singhvi, elected from the state of Telangana,” Mr Dhankhar informed the MPs when the House resumed this morning.
Security officials carry out anti-sabotage checks every day after parliamentary sessions, during which items left behind by MPs are often found. These items are then deposited at the ‘lost and found’ counter at the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.
Mr Dhankhar’s statement sparked uproar from both treasury and opposition benches, after which Mr Singhvi gave an account of how he spent the day at the parliament.
“Heard of it first time now. Never heard of it till now! I carry one 500 rs note when I go to RS. First time heard of it. I reached inside house at 12:57 pm and house rose at 1 pm then I sat in canteen till 1:30 pm then I left parl (sic),” the Congress leader said in an online post.
Stating that he had spent just three minutes in the House yesterday, and another 30 minutes in the canteen, he expressed surprise that anyone could leave anything on the seats in the Parliament.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, formerly with the Congress, backed the calls for a probe.
“The opposition is demanding an investigation. Whether you get the FBI, or take the help of the Interpol. There is 24-hour CCTV coverage of the entire premise – all of these must be probed. Today it is cash, tomorrow they may try to imply something else on the opposition voices,” she told.
