BJP councillor arrested for accepting bribe, AAP says it shows deep-rooted corruption in MCDs

A team of the central agency had laid a trap to arrest Mahlawat after it received a complaint that he had demanded bribe from person for allowing construction.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor from South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s Vasant Kunj ward, Manoj Mahlawat for allegedly taking bribe of Rs 10 lakh for allowing construction work in his area, people familiar with the development said.

Mahlawat was elected councillor from ward number 69, Vasant Kunj of SDMC in 2017. (Getty Images/iStockphoto (Representative Image))

He was produced before a court in Delhi and sent to judicial custody.

A team of the central agency had laid a trap to arrest Mahlawat after it received a complaint that he had demanded bribe from person for allowing construction. The agency didn’t reveal further details but officials, who didn’t want to be named, said the construction was not legal.

Mahlawat was elected councillor from ward number 69, Vasant Kunj of SDMC in 2017.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday hit out at the BJP after Mahlawat’s arrest with the party’s chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj saying that the action against the councillor showed how people have to bribe civic officials and councillors for construction.

“Another new feather is being added to the crown of BJP ‘s corruption. The councillor from Vasant Kunj ward number 69 of SDMC, Manoj Mahlawat was caught red-handed by the CBI for bribery. The AAP believes that the top BJP leadership knew about such illegal transactions in civic bodies,” Bharadwaj alleged.

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta on Friday suspended Mahlawat from the primary membership of the party. “Following its policy of zero-tolerance towards corruption, the Delhi unit of Bhartiya Janata Party suspends you (Mahlawat) from the primary membership of the party due to serious allegations of corruption against you,” Gupta said in the suspension letter to Mahlawat on Friday.

Responding to Bharadwaj’s allegations, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the BJP has zero-tolerance towards corruption and it has suspended Mahlawat from the primary membership of the party.

“We do not hesitate in taking action against the corrupt unlike the AAP, which is yet to take any action against jailed MLA Prakash Jarwal, who was accused of water tanker scam and provoking a doctor to suicide,” Kapoor said.