New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena referred the Vigilance Department’s request for granting prosecution sanction against Model Town’s Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member, Akhilesh Pati Tripathi to the Delhi Assembly Speaker, Ram Niwas Goel on Tuesday.
The Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) registered a case against Tripathi after a complaint was lodged against him for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 90 lakh from a woman aspirant from Ward No 69, Kamla Nagar to secure her an AAP ticket in last year’s Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections.
The FIR was lodged against him and three acquaintances by the woman’s husband under the Prevention of Corruption (POC) Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC) on November 15, 2022. During the investigation, Wazirpur AAP MLA, Rajesh Gupta’s name was brought up for allegedly receiving Rs 20 lakh from Akhilesh Tripathi.
The ACB found evidence of seizure of money and confirmatory statements by other accused persons, along with CCTV footage of Gupta’s house was acquired showing Tripathi arriving, staying there for a while and the complainant leaving at around 1:30 am on November 12, 2022.
Tripathi’s brother-in-law, Om Singh, his assistant, Vishal Pandey, and Prince Raghuvanshi were arrested on November 16, 2022, following which all three accused allegedly confessed that they were given Rs 33 lakh in cash by the AAP MLA to return to the husband of the aspirant after she was denied the party ticket.
“The L-G noted that the Speaker was the competent authority to grant prosecution sanction in the present case, as the accused is a sitting MLA. The Supreme Court judgement in P V Narasimha Rao vs CBI (1998) case also held that the Speaker’s sanction is needed for the prosecution of MPs and MLAs for offences made under the POC Act as they are public servants for the purpose of the Act,” mentioned the L-G office.