Senior advocate Vivek Tankha and advocate Sumeer Sodhi, appearing for Singh, said that no procedures were followed by the police in lodging the case and sanction to prosecute the Rajya Sabha MP was not taken. The bench said it will not get into the sanction aspect at this moment but it does not mean that no offence has been made out against Singh. It told Tankha that the court understands that sanction to prosecute under section 197 CrPC ought to have been taken from chairperson of Rajya Sabha. On February 2, the top court had refused to grant protection to Singh against whom a non-bailable warrant (NBW) has been issued on an FIR lodged in Lucknow.