Bribery case: Punjab AAP MLA Amit Rattan Kotfatta arrested by Vigilance Bureau

The MLA was nabbed from Rajpura on Wednesday evening and has now been arrested, said the officer. He will be produced in a court on Thursday to seek his remand, the official added.

AAP MLA from Punjab's Bathinda Rural seat Amit Rattan Kotfatta has been arrested in a bribery case by the Vigilance Bureau, a top official said on Thursday. The legislator's arrest comes days after his alleged close aide Rashim Garg was nabbed by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau in the same case. Kotfatta has been arrested, a top official of the bureau told news agency PTI.

The MLA was nabbed from Rajpura on Wednesday evening and has now been arrested, said the officer. He will be produced in a court on Thursday to seek his remand, the official added.

Rashim Garg was arrested red-handed by the VB from Bathinda circuit house on February 16 following a complaint lodged by Pritpal, husband of the sarpanch of Ghudda village head in Bathinda who alleged that the accused was demanding a bribe of Rs 5 lakh in lieu of releasing a government grant of Rs 25 lakh. Garg was caught with Rs 4 lakh cash by a team of the Vigilance Bureau in Bathinda.

A first information report (FIR) registered named Garg was named as the accused. In his complaint, Pritpal had charged the MLA with demanding a bribe for expediting pending payments of development works at the village.

Kotfatta had earlier denied having any association with Garg. He had accused the opposition parties of trying to defame the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab.

Earlier, the Punjab vigilance bureau (VB) had arrested a total of 172 accused in 129 bribery cases, which include 83 accused in 65 trap cases and 89 persons in 64 online complaints during the last year, VB chief director-cum-ADGP Varinder Kumar informed this on Sunday.

To encourage people to come forward and report corruption in state public offices, Chief Minister's Anti-Corruption Action Line was launched on March 23 last year, which according to VB Director-cum-ADGP Varinder Kumar has shown notable results.