Cash for ticket case: Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court today (November 18) sent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi's brother-in-law Om Singh and his personal assistant Shiv Shankar Pandey to Judicial custody for 12 days in an alleged bribery case for Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election ticket. The Anti Corruption Bureau recently arrested three persons including Om Singh and Shiv Shankar Pandey along with another person Prince Raghuvanshi in the matter.
On Wednesday, the court decided to send Om Singh and Shiv Shankar Pandey to two days' remand while sending Raghuvanshi to judicial custody for 14 days. According to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Om Singh is Aam Aadmi Party MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi's brother-in-law, Shiv Shankar Pandey is a personal assistant of MLA Tripathi and Prince Raghuvanshi were caught when they "came to return the money" to the complainant because the party worker's name was not in the list of those who were given tickets to contest the election next month.
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All three accused were arrested for allegedly taking Rs 90 lakh from a party worker for a ticket in the forthcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, officials of the anti-corruption branch said. On the last date of the hearing, ACB counsel submitted that Akhilesh Pati Tripathi and Rajesh Gupta were both MLAs involved in the case. They had demanded 90 lakh rupees. 55 lakhs were paid but the wife of the complainant was not given a ticket. Shiv Shankar Pandey, Om Singh and prince came to the house of the complainant to return the money.
The trap was laid at the residence of the complainant. Rs. 22 lakh is to be recovered from the accused. The investigation is at the initial stage. They were arrested early in the morning. The advocate for the accused said that a copy of the FIR has not been given to us. Even the PC remand application has not been shared. Media trial has been going on. The ACB press release is there.
Gaurav Khari complainant while talking to the media said, "I am being threatened and getting the call to withdraw the complaints."
While arrested, ACB said that the accused persons have been arrested under sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and section 171 (E) of the Indian Penal Code. The police informed that the complainant Gopal Khari approached ACB on Monday with the grievance that he met with Akhilesh Pati Tripathi with the request to secure the ticket for AAP Councilor from ward number 69 of Kamla Nagar for his wife Shobha Khari.
The complainant has alleged that the accused persons demanded Rs 90 lakh for the same and he had already paid Rs 35 lakh to Tripathi and Rs 20 lakh to Wazirpur MLA Rajesh Gupta, while the remaining Rs 35 lakh was to be paid after receiving the ticket, the police said. Khari added that later, he could not find his wife's name in the November 12 released list of candidates, says the police.
According to the police, Gopal Khari in his complaint mentioned that Om Singh had contacted him after the AAP's list of candidates for MCD elections was released on November 12 and promised to provide him with an election ticket in the next elections. He also offered to return the bribe money he had already taken, the complainant added.
Khari had also submitted audio and video recordings of the alleged deals made during the bribe payment, which are being scanned by the police team.The team of the Anti-Corruption Bureau laid a trap at the residence of Khari and caught the trio red-handedly. According to the police, the accused persons had come to return the bribe amount on behalf of Model Town MLA.As per the police, they have seized the said amount.
(With ANI inputs)
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