NEW DELHI, Aug 8: Four of the 16 accused, including former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao who have sought quashing of charges framed against them in the multi-crore JMM MPs bribery case, today claimed constitutional immunity before the Delhi High Court.

However, the court adjourned the hearing of the case till Monday as Rao's counsel, R K Anand, could not attend the hearing and other counsel said they proposed to substantially adopt the contentions of Anand.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the absence of Anand, Justice Jaspal Singh said, ``The case was notified for August 8 in May and the counsel knew this much in advance. It was very unfortunate that Anand chose not to attend the hearing''.

Dr Surat Singh, appearing for accused, Anadi Charan Das, Raja Abhey Pratap Singh and Ram Sharan Yadav, contended that Article 105(2) of the Constitution confers total immunity to MPs on the manner in which they vote in either House of the Parliament and the same could not be questioned in any court.

Those who have appealed against framing of charges were Rao, former Union ministers Buta Singh, Ajit Singh, Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav and Capt Satish Sharma, former Karnataka chief minister M Veerappa Moily, JMM leaders Suraj Mandal, Simon Marandi and Shibu Soren, V Rajeshwar Rao, Anadi Charan Das, Abhey Pratap Singh, Ram Sharan Yadav and Haji Ghulam Mohd Khan.

Counsel for three JMM leaders, Alok Krishna Aggarwal, told the court that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed three sets of chargesheet and each chargesheet contradicts the other in regard to the manner in which the bribe money was paid.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.