New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS): A plea seeking prosecution of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the cash-for-votes scam that rocked parliament during a trust vote in 2008 was Tuesday dismissed by the Delhi High Court, which also imposed a penalty of Rs.1 lakh on the petitioner lawyer.

On July 22, 2008, three Bharatiya Janata Party members waved wads of currency notes in the Lok Sabha ahead of a trust vote, alleging they were given the money to vote in favour of the Manmohan Singh government.

Dismissing the petition, Justice Ajit Bharihoke said: "The present petition appears to have been filed with malafide intention with a view to gain cheap publicity. Thus, in my view, the application is nothing but a gross abuse of the process of law."

The court slapped a fine of Rs.1 lakh on Santosh Kumar Suman, who filed the petition, directing him to deposit the money with the registrar general of the high court which will then be forwarded to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.

The petitioner said that since the money was allegedly offered to save the government headed by the prime minister, his complicity in offering money to the MPs was obvious and a case should be registered against him.

Suman filed an application before the Parliament Street police station chief March 28. In May, he moved a trial court but his plea was dismissed.

Following the dismissal of his plea, Suman wrote a letter to President Pratibha Patil seeking sanction for filing criminal case against the prime minister.

On July 4, Suman again went to the trial court seeking the revision of the earlier order and July 6 his petition was dismissed.