MCD polls: ACB summons AAP MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi in bribe-for-ticket case

New Delhi, Nov 16: AAP MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi has been summoned by the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Delhi government on Thursday in connection with poll ticket bribery case, officials said.

The development comes a day after the ACB arrested Tripathi''s brother-in-law and his two associates for allegedly demanding Rs 90 lakh as bribe for arranging ticket to a party worker's wife in the civic polls.

A senior ACB official said Tripathi has been summoned by the department at 11 am Thursday in connection with the probe.

The incident came to light on Monday after a person named Gopal Khari, who claimed being associated with the Aam Aadmi Party as an active worker since 2014, approached the ACB with the complaint, according to an official statement on Wednesday.

Khari met Model Town legislator Tripathi last Wednesday with a request for a councillor ticket from the AAP for his wife from ward no. 69 in Kamla Nagar, the ACB said.

Tripathi allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 90 lakh for it, and Khari did pay Rs 35 lakh to him. He also allegedly gave Rs 20 lakh to AAP MLA Rajesh Gupta on the Tripathi's insistence, according to a complaint.

Khari told Tripathi the remaining amount would be paid by him after getting the ticket, it said.

But on Sunday, the complainant did not find his wife's name in the list of contesting councillors released by the AAP as the ticket from his ward was given to some other person.

Later, Tripathi's brother-in-law, Om Singh, contacted Khari and assured him that the ticket would be given to him in the next election. Singh also offered to return the bribe amount that was given, it stated.

On the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, the ACB laid a trap at the Khari's residence, where Singh and his associates -- Shiv Shankar Pandey and Prince Raghuvanshi -- were caught when they came to return Rs 33 lakh from the money received by them on behalf of Tripathi.

The three were arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code. Pandey is the personal assistant of Tripathi, it said.

The complainant has submitted audio and video recordings of his purported dealings during payment and return of the bribe amount. An investigation is on to unearth the whole cases and to collect evidence, it added.