Court decision in Bangaru Laxman graft case Friday

New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) A court here will Friday pronounce its verdict in a 10-year-old graft case against former Bharatiya Janata Party president Bangaru Laxman for allegedly accepting a bribe from a fake arms dealer.

Additional Sessions Judge Kanwaljeet Arora had April 2 reserved his order in the case.

The corruption charges were framed against Laxman May 2011 by a Delhi court here.

The case dates back to 2001, when Tehelka.com carried out "Operation Westend", a sting that exposed the scandal. It has alleged that Laxman was caught on camera receiving money from an undercover journalist, posing as an arms dealer. He later resigned as the BJP chief.

Tehelka released the sting CDs allegedly showing Laxman accepting money for awarding a contract to a fictitious Britian-based company M/s West End International, for the supply of hand-held thermal imagers to the Indian Army.

The Central Bureau of Investigation in its charge sheet alleged that Laxman accepted Rs.1 lakh from the representatives of the purported firm in 2001 at his office for pursuing their proposal to supply certain products to the army.

"Tehelka portal scribes, impersonating as representatives of West End International, had held eight meetings with Laxman between Dec 23, 2000 and Jan 7, 2001, projecting themselves as suppliers of defence-related products," said the charge sheet.