Cash for ticket row: The anti-corruption branch (ACB) on Wednesday summoned Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Akhilesh Tripathi for questioning on Thursday following the arrest of three men. The three allegedly took bribe on his behalf in exchange for party tickets in the forthcoming MCD elections.
“MLA Tripathi has been summoned to ACB headquarters tomorrow at noon. The other MLA whose name has surfaced in the probe will also be summoned later,” said an officer requesting anonymity.
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Three arrested
The ACB arrested three men on Wednesday morning including MLA Tripathi’s brother-in-law, his personal assistant (PA) and another person. They allegedly took money from a north Delhi businessman to get his wife a councillor’s ticket in the forthcoming MCD election.
ACB chief Madhur Verma said Tripathi’s brother-in-law Om Singh and his two accomplices — Shiv Shankar Pandey (MLA Tripathi’s PA) and Prince Raghuvanshi were caught red handed with ₹35 lakh. They were allegedly returning the money to the complainant because the party worker’s name was not in the list of those who were given tickets.
The election across 250 wards of the MCD is being held on December 4.
Giving details, the ACB officer said that the complainant Gopal Khari approached the ACB on November 14 and alleged that the MLA Tripathi had asked for a bribe of ₹90 lakh. He was seeking a ticket from ward 69 (Kamla Nagar) for his wife, Shobha Khari.
Bribe paid
“The complainant paid a bribe of ₹35 lakh to MLA Tripathi and ₹20 lakh to MLA of Wazirpur, Rajesh Gupta on the instructions of Tripathi. He assured the MLA that the remaining money would be paid after his wife got the ticket. On November 12, the complainant did not find his wife’s name in the list of candidates released by party. The accused Om Singh contacted Khari (complainant) and said that the money would be returned and that his wife would get a ticket in the next election. Khari has submitted video and audio recording of the conversation when the money was returned,” said the ACB officer.
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Trap laid
The officer said that ACB laid a trap on the intervening night of November 15-16 at Khari’s residence and caught the three men red handed who had gone there to return the ₹35 lakh bribe money.
“We have registered a case and are probing the role of other people in the case,” added Verma.
Senior AAP leader and Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, said, the development is a “matter of satisfaction” for the party as it shows that even if someone is exchanging money for seeking party ticket, the ticket allocation process is not affected.
“Someone paid money to someone but they still could not get the party ticket. I see a silver lining in it and AAP has passed in this test. This is a solid proof that money does not have impact in the functioning of Aam Aadmi Party,” Sisodia said.
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