Jagdeep Dhankhar orders high level probe into wad of cash found at Abhishek Singhvi’s seat; ‘seat can be locked…’

Rajya Sabha chairman, Jagdeep Dhankhar, on Friday ordered a high level probe after a cash bundle was found under the Rajya Sabha seat of Congress MP, Abhishek Singhvi, reported NDTV.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, has however, denied the charges.

Dhankhar claimed that ₹50, 000 was recovered from Abhishek Singhvi’s seat. The Chairman’s claim led to protests by Congress MPs, including Mallikarjun Kharge, who urged that names should not have been taken before investigation, stated reports.

The high-level committee that will oversee the probe will reportedly include officials from security agencies, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, and senior MPs.

‘Seat can be locked…’

Abhishek Manu Singhvi welcomed the probe into the investigation, taking a dig at how the MPs should lock their seats before going home.

“It means that each of us must have a seat where the seat itself can be locked, and the key can be carried home by the MP, because everybody can then do things on the seat and make allegations like this,” Singhvi said, reported India Today.

Singhvi also denied the charges, claiming that he carries just a ₹500 note. The MP gave reporters a detailed account of when he reached the Parliament, how much time he spent in the canteen, and the time he left the Rajya Sabha.

“I heard about this for the first time. I reached the House at 12.57 pm and the House rose at 1 pm. Then, I sat in the canteen till 1.30 pm with Ayodhya MP Awadhesh Prasad and left Parliament,” Singhvi stated, reported India Today.

What other MPs said

The issue quickly turned into a centre of conflict, with MPs dishing out each other, on what should have been done after the wad of cash was discovered. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju observed that there was nothing wrong in pointing out the name and the seat number of the MP.

Meanwhile Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi stated that it was ‘disgusting’ to see how ‘BJP keeps on disrupting the house’