MCD elections 2022: AAP MLA's brother-in-law among 3 arrested in bribe for ticket case

Delhi: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections 2022 are just around the corner and all the 750 candidates from the three major parties AAP, BJP and Congress have filed their nominations. Amid the campaigning for the MCD polls, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday arrested three persons for allegedly accepting a bribe in exchange for a ticket for the MCD elections that are slated to be held on December 4. The ACB has arrested one Om Singh, who has been reported to be the brother-in-law of the Aam Aadmi Party's Model Town MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi and his associates Shiv Shankar Pandey alias Vishal Pandey (Tripathi`s Personal Assistant) and Prince Raghuvanshi after an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) worker Gopal Khari accused them of demanding and accepting a bribe for providing an election ticket for the MCD elections for his wife.

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. 

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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.

Delhi's Anti-Corruption Branch arrested 3 people including brother-in-law of AAP MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi in cash-for-ticket case. AAP worker Shobha Khari, wife of Gopal Khari had demanded a ticket, allegedly MLA Tripathi demanded Rs 90 lakh in exchange for it: ACB officials

— ANI (@ANI) November 16, 2022

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 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 the behalf of Model Town MLA.As per the police, they have seized the said amount.Further information is underway.

(With ANI inputs)