Chandigarh: A day after Rashim Garg, a close aide of Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amit Ratan Kotphatta, was arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 4 lakh, the opposition on Friday united against the Bhagwant Mann government and demanded arrests. demanded. Legislator.
Garg was arrested from Bathinda Circuit House on Thursday evening in the presence of the MLA, who was also questioned in the matter.
According to the Vigilance Bureau, Garg had received Rs 4 lakh from Pritpal Kumar, husband of Seema Rani, sarpanch of Ghuda village in Bathinda, for issuing a grant of Rs 25 lakh to the gram panchayat. The bureau recovered the money from Garg’s car, which was parked inside the circuit house. Ratan is the MLA from Bathinda Rural.
While Ratan said in a video message on Friday that Garg was not his personal assistant and had nothing to do with the corruption case, opposition parties alleged that Garg was accepting bribes on behalf of the MLA.
Talking to reporters after the incident, Pritpal Kumar said that he first met the MLA at the circuit house and told him that he had brought the money. Kumar told that later the MLA asked him to hand over the money to Garg.
“It is very clear from the statement issued by the complainant that the bribe money was meant for the MLA. The AAP government claims to be very honest but this is the third case where they have come to the rescue of their MLA. First, it was Vijay Singla who was not prosecuted as per the law despite being removed from the ministerial post. Then another minister Fauja Singh Sarairi was also removed from the post but no action was taken against him. Now, it is Ratan,” said Leader of the Opposition Pratap Singh Bajwa.
A Video Garg’s arrest was widely shared on social media.
Speaking to reporters in Adampur, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that there was a video recording of the MLA demanding a bribe of Rs 5 lakh from the sarpanch’s husband before giving the money to Garg.
He said, ‘It was disgusting that the AAP government immediately went into rescue mode to save its MLA. This could have been done only on the orders of the Chief Minister or Arvind Kejriwal,” said Badal.
The SAD president said his party exposed Ratan when he was with the Akali Dal. “We constituted a high-level committee headed by Sikander Singh Maluka to probe into complaints from scores of farmers and party workers who provided evidence that Ratan had taken lakhs of rupees from them and did not return the same. Were staying For this reason, Ratan was suddenly expelled from the Akali Dal, after which he was selected by AAP and given the party ticket in the 2022 assembly elections.
Demanding the immediate arrest of the AAP MLA and an impartial probe into the entire incident as well as other alleged fraudulent activities of Ratan, Badal said: “It is certain that Ratan has taken bribes from people including gram panchayats among others. It should be probed to ensure justice to those who have been cheated at the hands of this corrupt MLA.
Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira tweeted that AAP’s Delhi leadership is not allowing the MLA to be arrested.
“I am told that there is a serious tussle between @Raghav_Chaddha and @BhagwantMann over the arrest of AAP MLA Amit Ratan as he got his blessings and ticket from Delhi lobby by paying a hefty amount. How can the government not arrest the MLA after a clear statement of complaint?” he tweeted.
I am told that there is a serious quarrel between the two @raghav_chaddha And @Bhagwant Mann On arrest of AAP MLA Amit Ratan as he got his blessings and ticket from Delhi lobby by paying huge amount. After a clear statement, how can the government not arrest the MLA after the complaint?-Khaira @INCIndia pic.twitter.com/yxwtmiR4hP
— Sukhpal Singh Khaira (@SukhpalKhaira) February 17, 2023
Despite several attacks on the Mann government on the issue, there was no official statement from the party or the Punjab government regarding the MLA.