AAP MLA grilled in bribe-for-ticket case

New Delhi, November 17

The Delhi Government’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) today questioned AAP MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi, who appeared before it in connection with the MCD poll ticket bribery case, officials said.

Brother-in-law in police net

• On Wednesday, the Anti-Corruption Bureau had arrested AAP MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi’s brother-in-law and his two associates
• They allegedly demanded Rs 90 lakh as bribe for arranging the ticket to a party worker’s wife in the upcoming Municipal Corporation elections in Delhi

Yesterday, the ACB had laid a trap and arrested Tripathi’s brother-in-law and his two associates for allegedly demanding Rs 90 lakh as bribe for arranging the ticket to a party worker’s wife in the upcoming poll to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

A senior ACB official said Tripathi was asked to appear at 11 am and was questioned around issues relating to the case.

The incident came to light on Monday after Gopal Khari, who claimed to have been associated with AAP as an active worker since 2014, approached the ACB with the complaint, according to a statement issued by the agency.

Khari met Tripathi, the Model Town MLA, last Wednesday (November 9) with a request for the AAP ticket for his wife to contest the upcoming MCD elections from Ward No. 69 in Kamla Nagar, the ACB had said.

Tripathi allegedly demanded Rs 90 lakh to secure the ticket for Khari’s wife. Khari said he allegedly paid Rs 35 lakh to him. He also allegedly gave Rs 20 lakh to AAP MLA Rajesh Gupta on Tripathi’s insistence, according to the complaint.

Khari had told Tripathi the remaining amount would be paid after getting the ticket, it added.

On Sunday, the complainant did not find his wife’s name in the list of candidates released by AAP. Later, Tripathi’s brother-in-law, Om Singh, contacted Khari and assured him that the ticket would be given to him in the next election. Singh also offered to return the bribe, it stated.

On the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, the ACB laid a trap at Khari’s residence, where Singh and his associates — Shiv Shankar Pandey and Prince Raghuvanshi — were caught when they came to return Rs 33 lakh, which they received on behalf of Tripathi.

The three were arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC. Pandey is the personal assistant of Tripathi, the ACB said.

The complainant has also submitted audio and video recordings of his purported dealings during payment and return of the bribe amount. An investigation is on to unearth the whole case and to collect evidence, it added.