New Delhi (The Hawk): Akhilesh Pati Tripathi, an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Model Town, has been summoned by the Delhi government's Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) to participate in the investigation into the MCD ticket selling issue.
AAP MLA Tripathi's relative was one of three people the ACB detained earlier on Wednesday for allegedly selling MCD tickets for Kamla Nagar Ward (No. 69) for Rs 90 lakh.
Tripathi has been asked to join the investigation because the complainant brought up his name. On Thursday, he must appear before the investigation team by 11 a.m.
The AAP MLA Tripathi's alleged brother-in-law Om Singh, as well as Prince Raghuvanshi and Shiv Shankar Pandey, Tripathi's personal assistant, were detained by the ACB.
They were detained in accordance with the necessary sections.
According to Madhur Verma, DCP, ACB, "the accused were arrested for accepting bribe for giving AAP ticket to Shobha Khari wife of the complainant Gopal Khari for Ward No. 69, Kamla Nagar."
Gopal Khari, a Kamla Nagar, Delhi resident and the complainant, approached ACB on November 14 with the "grievance" that he had been an active member of the AAP since 2014 and had met Akhilesh Pati Tripathi on November 9 to ask for a council seat for his wife Shobha Khari.
The complainant added that Tripathi demanded a Rs 90 lakh bribe in exchange for the same.
"At his request, Khari paid bribes totaling Rs 35 lakh to Tripathi and Rs 20 lakh to Rajesh Gupta (MLA Wazirpur). Khari assured Tripathi that he would pay the remaining 35 lakh once he received the ticket. As the ticket from his ward had been given to someone else, Khari was unable to locate the name of his wife in the list of Councillors running for office that the AAP released on November 12.
"Om Singh then got in touch with the complainant and gave him the assurance that he would get the ticket for the upcoming elections. He also offered to give him his cash back (bribe amount). According to the ACB official, Khari also provided audio and video recordings of his alleged interactions during the payment and return of the bribe money.
The ACB assembled a team to find the accused after receiving the complaint.
When the accused Singh and his associates Pandey and Raghuvanshi came to return the bribe amount of Rs 33 lakh out of the total 35 lakh received by them on behalf of Tripathi, MLA from Model Town, they were caught red-handed in the presence of independent witnesses after the ACB team set up a trap at the residence of Khari on the intervening night of November 15 and 16.
"The Rs 33 lakh worth of bribe money has been seized. In order to uncover the truth and gather evidence for this case, more investigation is being done, according to the official.
(Inputs from Agencies)
