Bogus votes: Former Haryana minister, over 60 others booked for cheating

Former Haryana sports minister Sukhbir Kataria and 62 others including his family members and relatives and several officials have been booked on charges of cheating and conspiracy in the alleged bogus vote scam, police said on Monday.

Kataria, an ex-legislator from Gurgaon assembly seat, his relations and their domestic helps, a few block level and food and supply department officials have been booked in the case registered at Sector 5 police station after a district court issued order to lodge a fresh complained against accused, a seniot police official said.

A volunteer from Gurgaon, the native village of Kataria, approached the district court to file an FIR against accused.

Kataria, who was minister during the second tenure of Congress' Bhupinder Singh Hooda (2005-2010), has also been accused of misusing public fund during his tenure.

Elected as an Independent legislator from Gurgaon seat, he extended his support to Hooda and was made a minister.

He has been accused of preparing and using fake documents to create bogus votes, on the basis of which he won the elections. Over a dozen seperate FIRs has been registered against him but he was never arrested.

--IANS

pradeep/vd