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Bathinda AAP MLA Amit Rattan Kotfatta arrested in corruption case, sent to 7-day remand
The arrests comes a week after Bathinda (Rural) MLA Amit Rattan Kotfatta’s close aide Rashim Garg was caught accepting ₹4 lakh bribe on February 16
BATHINDA: Ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lawmaker from the reserved Bathinda (Rural) Amit Rattan Kotfatta, who was arrested by the vigilance bureau from Patiala district on Thursday in a corruption case, was sent to the police remand till February 27.
Kotfatta’s arrest came a week after his close aide Rashim Garg was caught accepting ₹4 lakh bribe on February 16.
Kotfatta is the second AAP legislator to be arrested for alleged involvement in corruption. In May last year, Vijay Singla, who was then the health minister, was arrested for allegedly demanding a 1% commission for a tender. Apart from these two, Punjab horticulture, food processing and defence services welfare minister Fauja Singh Sarari also had to resign from the state cabinet in January this year, four months after an audio clip of a conversation purportedly between him and a close aide regarding a plan to allegedly “trap” some contractors with the help of government officials to extort money went viral on social media
After producing the MLA in the court of judge Daljit Kaur, VB deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Kulwant Singh told reporters that Kotfatta was arrested near the Shambhu border located on Amritsar-Delhi national highway.
“We have secured the accused’s police remand till February 27 for his custodial questioning. The court has extended Garg’s police remand by another day, and he will be produced in the court tomorrow,” said the DSP.
He said the MLA was nominated in the Prevention of Corruption Act case on February 21 on the basis of a preliminary investigation.
DSP said the bureau has no more comments to offer at this point in time as the matter is under investigation.
A resident of Samana in Patiala, Garg is the police custody since he was arrested by the VB sleuths from Bathinda’s circuit house on February 16.
The VB officials cited their probe in the case and said they have found “strong evidence” of the involvement of Kotfatta in the crime.
“It is quite clear that Garg collected the bribe on MLA’s behalf,” said an official, who did not wish to be named.
After his arrest, Kotfattta was taken to Bathinda where was produced in the court in the afternoon. Before that, the AAP legislator was taken to Shaheed Bhai Mani Singh Civil Hospital at around 7 am for a medical examination as per the standard protocol.
Kotfatta and Garg remained at the VB’s Bathinda zone office at the district administrative complex for more than 8 hours.
Heavily armed security personnel from the anti-gangster task force (AGTF), anti-riot police and district police were deputed at the VB office and the court complex. Kotfatta told reporters at the court complex that he has full faith in the judiciary.
Garg was arrested on February 16, following a complaint lodged by Pritpal Kumar, the husband of a Ghudda village sarpanch Sunita Rani in Bathinda, who alleged that the Kotfatta and Garg were allegedly demanding a bribe of 20% of the development funds for the village.
Kumar submitted audio recordings of Kotfatta and Garg’s purportedly demanding money. Garg was caught with ₹4 lakh cash at a government-owned circuit house in Bathinda, where Kotfatta was also present. Kotfatta had been questioned then also by the VB sleuths.
Reacting to Kotfatta’s arrest AAP chief spokesperson in Punjab, Malvinder Singh Kang said this shows that CM Bhagwant Mann has zero tolerance to corruption.
“CM @BhagwantMann is undoubtedly a Man on mission but not on commission unlike his predecessors, with zero tolerance on corruption. CM has given a free hand to Vigilance to curb the menace of the corruption,” Kang tweeted on Thursday.
SAD chief Sukhbir Badal took to Twitter and termed the Kotfatta’s arrest as “too little, too late. “This corrupt MLA should have been arrested after VB sleuths caught him accepting bribe last week. The “Kattar Beimaan Party” hasn’t sacked him or other corrupts like Vijay Singla & Fauja Sarari. SAD demands all of them be disqualified from Vidhan Sabha,” Sukhbir said in a tweet.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Punjab Partap Singh Bajwa tweeted, “With arrest of corrupt AAP MLA Amit Rattan Kotfatta stand of our party has been vindicated. This is the third AAP MLA in less than a year who has been charged with corruption charges. Is this the Badlav CM Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal promised to people of Punjab?”
