Legal luminaries divided on strength of Vijay Singla’s corruption case

“No recovery of money has been made from the minister. The police was not able to get anything incriminating from his house. No money exchanged hands. This is not turning into a strong case. At most it is a case of misconduct. The offence is bailable. If he does not get bail from the local court, he can get bail from the High Court. It is however a different matter that there would be holidays in the coming days,” a legal expert told The Indian Express on anonymity.

Sources said that the complainant, Superintending Rajinder Singh had recorded his conversation with the minister and his OSD Pardeep Kumar on his phone which was handed over to the police as evidence. A legal expert said, “The forensic lab can match the voice and give its report. It can be taken as electronic evidence.” On ban on stings, he said, “It is a sting in a way that it has one man on one side and another on the other. It can be prayed that the complainant recorded it to protect himself. Then it can be accepted.”

Another legal luminary said that he was also watching the case closely. “A demand of bribe has been made. That amounts to the intent of corruption. Whatever it may be, the government has been able to convey a message of intolerance against corruption.” Eversince Singla has been arrested, it is being debated on whether the FIR, registered by the police, would be able to result in his conviction. An AAP source however said, “I am no one to react on this but look at the intent of the government. They have conveyed that they have zero-tolerance for corruption.”