Thursday, April 28 2005 15:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Nearly five months after registering cases in the Tehelka expose, the CBI questioned former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Bangaru Laxman for allegedly accepting money from a reporter who was posing as an arms dealer. CBI sources said Bangaru was called to the CBI headquarters in New Delhi yesterday (Apr 27, 2005) evening and was questioned for nearly four hours.

It was not immediately clear as to what Bangaru told the investigators during the questioning by sleuths of the anti-corruption bureau.

CBI had on December 6 registered five cases in connection with the expose, including one naming Laxman and two of his personal staff members, Uma Maheshwari Raju and Satyamurthy, under section 120-B of Indian Penal Code (conspiracy) and Section Seven and Nine of Prevention of Corruption Act.

While section 7 of PCA refers to a "public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act", section 9 talks about to "taking gratification for exercise of personal influence with public servant."

A huge political controversy broke out after the Tehelka tapes were made public on March 13, 2001 leading to sacking of Laxman and resignation of the then Defence Minister George Fernandes, who was, however, re-inducted later.

Bangaru was purportedly shown accepting Rs one lakh as "illegal gratification" and demanding additional payment in dollars as a consideration for rendering assistance in the matter of supply of Hand Held Thermal cameras to the Army.

His personal staff Raju and Satyamurthy were also booked for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 and a gold chain respectively.