Rajasthan MLA Arrested for Allegedly Taking ₹20 Lakh Bribe from Mine Owner

Jaipur: In a major breakthrough, the Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Sunday arrested Jaikrishn Patel, a Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) MLA, on charges of accepting a bribe of ₹20 Lakh from an owner of a mine at his official residence. Officials termed the arrest as the first such instance of a sitting MLA being caught red-handed in a bribery case in the state.

As per ACB Director General Ravi Prakash Meharda, MLA Patel had been under watch ever since April 4 after the ACB received a complaint against him from mine owner Ravindra Singh. The ACB was able to lay a trap and arrest Patel on Sunday.

Patel had asked the complainant ₹10 crore to withdraw three mining-related questions in the Todabhim constituency of Karauli district, which were pending in the last assembly session, officials said. Meharda described how Patel met Singh after the questions were filed and asked for the large amount to withdraw them. The bribe was said to have been agreed at ₹2 crore after negotiation, payable in installments. Singh had already made a payment of ₹1 lakh to Patel at Banswara earlier.

On Sunday, Patel was arrested as the complainant visited Patel’s MLA quarter at Jaipur’s Jyoti Nagar to give the second instalment.

Police commissioner Suhail Singh asserted that prior permissions were taken both from Speaker Vasudev Devnani and Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma in order to implement the operation and arrest the MLA.

Recalling the arrest events, an officer mentioned that an ACB team and the complainant went to the residence of Patel on Sunday morning. A staff member took them in and apprised the MLA. Patel was in another room waiting. The staff member took the money from the complainant and moved towards the MLA’s room. But seeing the ACB team heading towards the room, the staff member escaped with the money.

Though the cash was not recovered, a manhunt has been launched against the staff member. The DG said that the ACB has enough evidence against the MLA, including audio-visual recordings of the scene and a color test that followed the color of the cash on Patel’s fingers.

Patel was then produced at the ACB office in Jhalana Doongri for further inquiry. The ACB also has CCTV footage from around his house under investigation. The MLA’s purported interest in Todabhim’s Singh’s mines, outside of his constituency within Southern Rajasthan, is being questioned.

Jaikrishn Patel was also elected to the Bagidora constituency in a November by-poll as a BAP candidate with Congress support after seat holder former Congress minister Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya vacated it. Patel had earlier contested the 2023 assembly election from the same seat but secured the second position.

The Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) has labeled Patel’s arrest as a “conspiracy.” Rajkumar Roat, BAP member of Parliament from Banswara-Dungarpur, was concerned that their MLA is a victim of a big conspiracy. He asked which party could have been involved and why the money had been handed over, indicating it is a general practice against new third parties in Rajasthan.

BAP has become an influential power within the Rajasthan’s tribal areas, with its origin in the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP). In September 2023, BAP was created to promote the cause of the tribals and their rights and issues, gaining three seats during the 2023 Rajasthan assembly elections and one seat, the Bagidora seat, in the 2024 by-poll. Currently, it possesses one MP and four MLAs.

Responding to the arrest, Rajasthan Home Minister Jawahar Singh Bedham reiterated the government’s zero-tolerance approach towards corruption. “Such an act by an MLA reflects poorly on the state as a whole and goes against their responsibility towards the public,“ he said, assuring that needful action will be initiated irrespective of the party in question.