New Delhi : Eleven years after he was caught on camera allegedly taking bribe from fake arms dealers, a Delhi court on Friday pronounced former BJP President Bangaru Laxman guilty of accepting money for making recommendations to the Defence Ministry regarding contracts for supply of wares to the Army.

Laxman was immediately taken into custody by the CBI, while the quantum of his punishment under the Prevention of Corruption Act will be announced on Saturday.

While walking into the court on Friday Laxman seemed confident of a favourable verdict, saying, “I have full faith in judicial system. Therefore I am going (to the court).” However, the judge didn’t seem to agree with Laxman and his counsel view on the matter while delivering a verdict against the former BJP man.

For the Congress, itself mired in many corruption scandals in recent times, Laxman’s conviction came as a sigh of relief, with the ruling party’s spokesperson Manish Tiwari immediately attacking the BJP. “The conviction should be seen as a lesson to the BJP that those who live in glass houses should not thrown stones to others. Now the BJP should introspect,” Tiwari said.
 
In its first reaction, BJP MP Vinay Katiyar said, “We respect the verdict of the court. If necessary we will challenge this in a higher court.”

Congress MP Renuka Chaudhary claimed the law had taken its course. “BJP should set its house in order. Anyone who commits a wrong will have go pay for it,” she said.

Bangaru was caught on camera accepting money in a 2001 sting operation conducted by newsportal Tehelka.com. The video CDs, which were released by the portal on March 13, 2001, had sparked a political storm following which Bangaru resigned as BJP chief.

The scribes posed themselves as representatives of a fictitious UK-based company West End International and were seeking his recommendation to the ministry for supply of hand-held thermal imagers for the Indian Army.

As per the CBI charge sheet, Tehelka scribes had held eight meetings with Bangaru between December 23, 2000, and January 7, 2001, projecting themselves as supplier of defence-related products.

The CBI had alleged that Bangaru had accepted Rs.one lakh from the representatives of the purported firm on January 1, 2001, at his office for pursuing their proposal to supply certain products to the Army.