Charges against Rao and Buta have been proved, says CBI

Tiwari submitted the synopsis as part of the final phase of the trial in the case, upon which the court directed the CBI to supply copies of it to all the accused within two days and posted further hearings for April 17.

The five other accused against whom no witnesses had made any statement in the court are former Karnataka ministers H M Revenna and Ramalinga Reddy, Bangalore-based liquor barons Thimme Gowda and D K Adikeshavalu and V Rajeshwar Rao.

According to the CBI synopsis, the alleged conspiracy had three limbs — the happenings at Andhra Bhavan where Rajeshwar Rao was residing and at the residences of Ajit Singh and Buta Singh here.

While the first two limbs could not be proved as witnesses had turned hostile, the charges of conspiracy and abetment against the former prime minister and Buta Singh which figured in the statement of approver Shailendra Mahato were substantiated by other relevant material on record, the CBI said.

The case relates to the alleged bribing of Opposition MPs to defeat the July 28, 1993 no confidence motion against the then Rao government at the Centre.

The trial court had discharged nine accused in the case in the light of a Supreme Court ruling that there was no provision in the Constitution to prosecute MPs for taking bribe if it related to their voting in Parliament.