Punjab: Huge Embarrassment For AAP Government As Vigilance Bureau Arrests Bathinda MLA Amit Rattan Kotfatta In Bribery Case

The Aam Aadmi Party 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 today (Feb 23)

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, PTI reported quoting an top official of the bureau.

The MLA was nabbed from Rajpura on February 22 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.

The Vigilance Bureau was facing criticism over allegations that it was shielding the MLA while arresting only his aide.

After the forensic examination of the audio recording submitted by the complainant proved that the voice in the recording was that of the MLA., the office of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann reportedely gave the go ahead for the arrest of the party legislator.

Rashim Garg, a close aide of Rattan, was arrested on February 16 following a complaint lodged by the husband of a Ghuda 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.

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.

Kotfatta, who was previously with Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD), joined AAP in Jan 2022. In Jan 2020, Kotfatta was expelled from SAD on charges of duping party workers on the pretext of providing them with business opportunities. Several farmers complained that he had cheated them.

Despite serious corruption allegation, AAP fielded him in 2022 state assembly elections. Kotfatta won trouncing his opponent by over 35,000 votes.

Ever since it stormed to power in the state, the AAP government has been facing repeated embarrassment over corruption charges against senior ministers and MLAs.

In May 2022 Mann sacked the then Health Minister Vijay Singla from his cabinet on corruption charges.

Mann said he decided after learning that Singla was allegedly demanding a one per cent commission for all tenders floated by Health and Family Welfare department. Mann claimed that the decision was taken to ensure that his government remained free of corrupt practices. Singla was arrested and later released on bail.

In January 2023, Fauja Singh Sarari was forced to quit as Cabinet minister after he was embroiled in a controversy over an audio clip in which he allegedly discussed ways to "trap" some contractors to "extort" money.

Sarari was in the eye of a storm since September 2022 after an audio clip of his conversation with his close aide surfaced in which he was heard discussing "a plan to extort money from officials and transporters". AAP government was on the defensive after the audio clip went viral. Sarari has been maintaining that he was innocent and the audio was doctored.

CM Mann has frequently requested his ministers to desist from taking their close relatives/friends as PAs or OSDs.